Dark Mirror: Butchered Innocence
by Organ Man
Summary: Part 3 of the Dark Mirror Saga. Almost complete with his training for the Sinnoh League, Ash's journey is interrupted when he stops to help a lost child. But he is dragged into yet another nightmare, separated from all his friends and forced flee an incredibly deadly monster. And before he can escape, he has to witness humanity at it's cruelest...
1. Prologue

The first thing Delia noticed was that her son wasn't smiling as much.

He still smiled, sure. It wasn't like he had suddenly become a completely dour, angry individual. He was happy to see her, happy to eat her cooking, happy to sleep in his own room.

But something was wrong. Ash hadn't spoken about his travels in Hoenn as much as Delia would've expected. He tended to quietly sigh or stare at nothing in particular. Occasionally, he'd start to ask about something, but suddenly change the subject.

At first Delia just figured her son was just a little upset about not winning the Hoenn tournament, or that May and Max weren't traveling with him anymore. However, something told her that wasn't it. He seemed to have accepted his defeat pretty gracefully, and whenever he talked about his traveling companions, he was never upset about them leaving. There was something else on his mind.

And there were the thick bags under Ash's eyes...had he been sleeping?

It wasn't until a few weeks into his return that Ash finally told Delia what was on his mind. They had just sat down to dinner, just the two of them. Ash had just made plans to explore the Sinnoh region, and while Delia was concerned about how little time he spent at home, she eventually let Ash go his way. "Just like your father." she remarked.

That casual remark made Ash tense up. His teeth clenched and his fists tightened. This caught Delia by surprise. "H-honey, what's wrong?"

Ash groaned, calming back down. "Nothing, it's just..." the boy paused for a while, unsure of what to say. He hummed, hrrrmed, and stammered for a minute before going quiet again. There was a long, awkward silence before Ash took a deep breath and finally asked what was on his mind.

"Who is my dad?"

Delia silently gasped. This was what Ash had been thinking about? She hadn't expected him to ask that question...

No. She expected him to ask one day. She just hadn't been ready to give an answer.

"He...he was a trainer..." Delia stammered.

"I know, I...who is he? What was his name, and where has he been? I want to know who he is!" Ash demanded.

Delia gulped. Ash wouldn't accept another vague answer, it was time to tell him the truth. It wouldn't be easy.

"Wait here." she sighed, going upstairs to the attic. Ash just sat there, slightly confused but anticipating an answer to the question that had been bothering him since...for a long time now.

Eventually, Delia came back downstairs, holding a small picture frame close to her chest. Sitting down next to Ash, she hesitated for a moment before showing the picture to Ash.

"His name was Kent."

Ash looked down at the picture. It was a younger version of his mother in a wedding dress, right beside a man in a tuxedo. Both of them were smiling broadly. Kent was slightly thin, but not a beanpole. He had small glasses, light brown hair, a short beard and a few freckles on his face. He looked like a very cheerful, friendly fellow. In fact, he looked a little funny to Ash.

"I...met him in high school. He loved my smile, my laugh...he said I was the sunshine in his life." Delia smiled as she remembered her husband. "He was a trainer, a lot like you. Had a real wanderlust, but...he loved us so much...I'm sorry you never got the chance to see him."

Ash nodded, apparently satisfied. "So...when can I see him?"

Delia's face fell. Her eyes became downcast, her smile faded, her eyes lost their usual sparkle. "You...won't."

Ash was shocked. "What?! Why?"

Delia sniffled, struggling to keep herself together. "After...a year after you were born, before...you could remember...he...he...had an accident."

Ash blinked. "An accident?"

"While he was hiking, he...slipped, and..." Delia gulped. "He...I'm so sorry..."

Ash's face darkened. "He's...he's dead? He's been dead all this time, and you didn't tell me?!"

Delia was beginning to cry. "I didn't know how...it was all so sudden, I didn't believe it myself, I didn't know how to tell you..."

"So you LIED?!" Ash stood up angrily. "You said my father was on a journey! You said I'd see him!"

"I didn't say-"

"You lied! **You lied to me**!" Ash screamed with tears in his eyes before dropping the picture on the floor and running out the door into the night.

The wedding frame cracked when it hit the floor.

* * *

Ash didn't go far. He ran to the other end of Pallet Town, into a small, secluded field. No-one was there to see him stop running and unsteadily stand for a second. Nothing saw him fall to his knees and start sobbing. He was alone, sad, confused and angry.

Ash cried into his hands. How long had he had that dream? Having his father be there, seeing him win the tournament, and embracing him when he held up that trophy. Just like the movies. He was so looking forward to that, that was the reason he'd kept on going...

And then came Kalville. Then came Alessa, Satos, and Pyramid Head. Alessa, who tarnished his idea of his father. Satos, who gave him an all-too delicious taste of having a father. Pyramid Head, who exposed Satos as a hollow fantasy in the cruelest way imaginable.

And now it was clear that dream would never come true.

"Daddy..." Ash sniffled. All he had of his father was a picture. Nothing more. Why didn't she just tell me?

Ash sat there for a long time, oblivious to the lengthening shadows, struggling to come to terms with what he'd found out. Trying to find some comfort in this new revelation. All he could think about was the first time he really thought about his father.

"Heh." Ash chuckled bitterly. "I guess...I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, huh? Alessa?"

Nobody answered.


	2. Chapter 1

"We're lost again, aren't we?" Ash groaned sourly. Pikachu and Dawn sighed with him. The three children had been walking through a thick forest for what felt like hours.

Brock smiled in a way that wasn't reassuring at all. "No, of course not! This is the right path, I'm sure of it!" He kept glancing down at the two pieces of paper in his hands.

"You're always sure." Ash growled.

Brick was a little unnerved by how angry Ash sounded. "Hey...easy. We...we're just taking a scenic route!"

"Is there gonna be trainers on this 'scenic route'?" Ash asked.

"Maybe, I..."

"There'd better be." Ash sighed, not saying anything else.

Dawn and Brock glanced at each other, not sure what to make of their friend's current behaviour. Ash had been pretty down since his fight with Paul, but he'd never been this...

They decided not to talk about it yet. Hopefully, whatever was on the trail ahead would cheer him up.

It didn't. There wasn't a single trainer on this 'scenic route'. Every step they took only made Ash more and more restless and agitated.

"Ok Brock," Ash finally stopped and sighed. "Out with it. Where are we?"

Brock gulped. "We're...we're between Lilypad Town and Sunyshore City, I can tell you that..."

"But?"

Brock shook his head. "I don't...this is why we don't buy maps from two different places! They show different routes for this area, one of them has a road that doesn't exist anymore, and the other..."

Ash groaned with exasperation. "We ARE lost! AGAIN!"

"Ash..."

"We're lost, we're running low on food, on a route with no trainers, barely any Pokemon, miles away from the city! All because we still haven't gotten the hint and let Brock lead us!" Ash ranted, pacing with frustration.

"Hey!"

"Ash, calm down!"

"Pikapi!"

"You want me to calm down?! We're wasting time! I can't train my Pokemon, and I NEED to train my Pokemon for the Sinnoh League! We can't waste time with these 'scenic routes'! You IDIOT! We could be in-"

"ASH!" Dawn stepped in front of Ash, angrily. "Don't talk to Brock like that! I didn't see YOU helping with the map!"

"Neither did you!" Ash snapped back.

"Hey! Just because you lost that last fight-"

**"Don't remind me!"**

"GUYS, STOP IT!" Brock finally yelled. The two children looked at him with irritated eyes, but stopped arguing. Brock took a deep breath. "The last thing we should do is fight. Maybe a long walk in the woods is what we all need! Now please be quiet! We're on a path, it has to lead somewhere. Now come on!"

Ash and Dawn still glowered at each other, but they eventually nodded and followed Brock.

* * *

Ash's group wasn't the only group of cranky individuals in the woods that day. Three teenagers in white Team Rocket uniforms were walking through the forest, groaning almost as much as their stomachs

"You SURE that the twerps went this way?" James demanded, carrying himself with a stick. He had been saddled with a very large knapsack stuffed with lots of heavy equipment.

"Of course they did!" Jessie answered confidently. "We just need to follow the path, and we'll catch up and steal their Pokemon!"

"And the reason we couldn't take the balloon?"

"We'd lose them in the trees!"

"Right." Meowth groaned. "So what's the plan fer _if_ we catch up to them?"

Jessie smiled broadly. "I was hoping you'd ask, Meowth!" Within a second, she whipped out of James' backpack something that resembled a huge toy bazooka. "This Rocket-Powered Rocket Grabber will grab that Pikachu and carry him away before that twerp can even react!"

James blinked. "How much did it cost?"

Jessie shrugged. "A...um...sizable portion of...our...salaries."

Meowth and James groaned at once. "Is DAT the reason we haven't had actual food dis week?"

"Will you two stop grousing?! I've cooked perfectly good meals!"

"Don't remind me..." James moaned, turning a shade of green. "Bad memories make me sick..."

"Oh, shut up and keep walking, you idiots." Jessie snarled. "Soon as we have the twerp in our sights, Pikachu is as good as ours!"

"Sure..."

* * *

A few minutes later, Ash had cooled down. They were still in the woods, but on a fairly beaten path. A river gurgled nearby, the noise calming everyone down.

Remembering what he said earlier, Ash gulped and said. "I'm sorry...sorry about what I said..."

"It's okay, Ash." Brock acknowledged.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck, slightly jostling Pikachu. "It's just...I've been a little...out of sorts."

Brock nodded. "Let's be honest. We've all been out of sorts since..."

"Mashura." Dawn finished, shivering at the memory.

The mention of the town brought a chill to the air. Everyone became quiet. Ash touched his hand, the glove concealing the Executioner's Mark. It still hurt sometimes at night, but he'd gotten used to it.

"Yeah..." Ash nodded.

"Look, the road leads somewhere. We're gonna get to a town by sundown, I promise. Let's just...let's just keep going."

Ash, Dawn and Pikachu nodded, and the group kept walking forward.

As they continued down the path, Ash had to admit that the forest was very calming. The birds were chirping merrily, the river was close by, and the trees gave enough shade to keep the warm sun from being unbearable. Every so often, Ash would hear a car drive by in the distance. That assured him that civilization was nearby, although Brock wasn't keen on getting too close to the road. It was an ideal forest for a long walk, quiet and isolated but not so much that...

Suddenly, Ash had the distinct impression that someone was watching him. He whirled around, trying to find the eyes he was sure were on him. But as quickly as the feeling came up, it disappeared. Nobody was watching him. Silently chuckling at his paranoia, Ash continued on.

A few minutes later, Dawn stopped the group. "Hey...you guys hear something?"

It took them a moment, but they did. The soft whimper of a crying child.

Without hesitation, the three children took off in the direction of the cry. The sound was coming from a place a little to the left of the beaten path.

A little blonde boy, wearing a striped t-shirt and worn jeans, was crying beside a tree.

Ash immediately went up to him, crouching beside. "Hey...are you alright?"

The boy looked up and sniffled. "I got lost an...an...I wanna go home..."

"It's okay, it's okay." Dawn comforted him. "Where do you live?"

"A...A..." the boy babbled for a second."Annie...the orphanage..."

Brock blinked. "There's an orphanage here?"

The little boy nodded. "Yuh-yeah, it's that way..." he gulped, pointing a finger. "...but...there's a monster...it's gonna find me...An I...can't be by myself..."

Ash put his hand on the little boy's shoulder. "It's okay. We'll take you home."

The child immediately brightened up. "Really? You'll take me back to...the...orphanage?"

"Of course we will. We're not gonna let any monster attack us." Ash reassured him, proudly. "Not with my buddy around to protect us."

"Chaaa!" Pikachu agreed.

The child looked at the electric mouse with wonder. "Wow...a Pikachu...can...can I hold it? Puh-please?"

Ash could tell the scared child really wanted to hold Pikachu, so he agreed. "Um, sure. Just give him back when we get there, K?"

"S-sure." the kid nodded. Pikachu hopped into his arms, and the kid embraced the electric Pokemon like a comforting teddy bear. Pikachu nearly had the wind knocked out of him. "Thank you…thank you so much…"

Brock gave his hand to the boy. "C'mon, let's go. The orphanage is that way?"

The kid just nodded. Taking Brock's hand with his free arm, he picked himself off the ground while still carrying Pikachu. "This way...yeah."

"Hey..." Dawn remarked once they started moving in the direction the kid had pointed. "What's your name?"

The child hesitated for a second before answering. "W-Wally. I'm Wally."

_Sure you are._


	3. Chapter 2

It was a fairly short, uneventful walk to Wally's orphanage. Dawn and Ash would occasionally ask Wally questions and try to make small talk, but he didn't answer very much. He seemed a lot more focused on the Pokemon in his arms, who he clutched like he never wanted to let go. Pikachu was starting to get a little worried, but he couldn't bring himself to shock the kid.

The sun was starting to go down, and Dawn was starting to get concerned about finding a place to sleep. Wally reassured her, "Don't worry, we're almost there..."

And sure enough, they came upon a large building. Wally's orphanage looked very picturesque, with a white fence and brick walls. It resembled an old-style colonial home, with the balconies and porch painted white. The windows were all tinted, and the yard was well-trimmed. It looked like a nice place to stay.

No sooner had they entered the yard then the front door opened and a lady stepped out. The old woman still had red hair, done up in a bun with a few strands hanging over her face. Her dress was old-fashioned, bringing to mind a housewife from the 50's. Her face was wrinkled from years of smiles, and she walked with the energy of someone much younger.

She was smiling broadly when she ran up to the group of children. "Wally! Thank goodness, we were so worried about you!" she quickly looked at the three older kids. "Who are your friends?"

"I'm Ash."

"I'm Brock."

"My name is Dawn."

"And this is Pikachu." Ash pointed to the yellow teddy bear Wally was holding.

The old woman slightly gasped. "Oh my...Wally, could you please give that Pokemon back?"

"It's ok, I said he could hold it, miss..."

"Anita." the lady sighed. "Wally, please. It's simply not polite."

Wally hesitated, but he eventually relinquished his hold on Pikachu. He was awfully sad that he had to let go, but he obeyed Anita's request. Pikachu hopped back on Ash's shoulder, a little relieved and a little sad. Wally waved hesitantly before running into the building.

Anita smiled warmly. "You must be traveling trainers. Where are you heading?"

"Sunyshore City." Ash answered. "I'm trying to get my last badge for the Sinnoh League."

"But we got lost." Dawn sighed, glancing harshly at Brock.

Brock blushed with embarrassment. "Yuh-yeah, we kinda got confused with the maps."

"YOU kinda got confused with the maps." Dawn corrected.

"Ok, ok! I messed up!" Brock admitted, reluctantly.

Anita chuckled. "It's ok, dear. Everybody makes mistakes." She then glanced up at the darkening sky. "You know...it's getting really late. Maybe you dears could stay for the night?"

Brock shook his head. "Oh no, we wouldn't want to impose..."

"It's no trouble at all. From the look of it, a home-cooked meal and a good rest in a real bed will do you all fine."

Dawn smiled. "That'd be great!"

"Yeah!" Ash agreed.

"Well..." Brock didn't have any arguments.

Anita's smile faded slightly. "I'm...gonna have to ask that your Pokemon stay out of the building, though."

Ash and Pikachu blinked, confused. "What? Why?"

Anita sighed. "It's just...some of my little dears are deathly allergic to Pokemon fur, and the others are...deathly afraid of Pokemon, period. They think they're monsters, and I don't want to scare them."

Ash was perplexed by this. "Afraid of...that's just..." Ash was about to say crazy, but then he remembered how dangerous some Pokemon actually were. "But...then what do we do?"

"Don't worry. There's a shelter right next to here where your Pokemon can stay the night." Anita pointed to a smaller building nearby. It looked like a cleaned-up bunkhouse, with matching colors to the orphanage.

"Seems kinda small..." Brock noted.

"Well, your Pokemon can stay in their Pokeballs, can't they? They won't take up much room."

"Yeah, but..." there was something funny about the request that Ash couldn't shake. "Can't they stay in their Pokeballs, with us?"

Anita shook her head. "Not under my roof. One time, a Pokemon broke out of its ball while a trainer was visiting. Hurt one of my children and three of my helpers. I just don't want that to happen again."

The three children looked at each other, not sure what to make of this.

"They'll be just fine." Anita told them with her warm, motherly smile. "It'll be just like a...Pokemon centre."

Eventually, the three children shrugged. "Alright."

Anita's smile broadened. "Wonderful. Give me a second...Marge!"

Another woman came walking out of the bunkhouse. Marge looked roughly the same age as Anita, but with long blonde hair and a more modern coat and jacket. She was taller than Anita and walked with more focus than Anita did. She smiled wanly as she approached the group.

"What is it, Anita?" she sighed, clearly tired.

"These fine young trainers are staying with us for the night. Could you please take care of their pets?"

Marge grimaced when she saw Ash's Pikachu. "Of...of course, Anita. Just give me your Pokeballs, and I'll keep…them safe for the night."

Ash, Dawn and Brock hesitated for a second. "We WILL get them back tomorrow morning, right?" They wanted to make sure.

Anita smiled that reassuring smile again. "Of course you will, dears. Don't you worry."

After another moment's consideration, the group decided that there was no harm in turning over their Pokemon for one night. If it was Anita's rule for them staying for the night, it was the rule. With some slight reluctance, the group handed their Pokeballs over to Marge, who accepted them calmly. The same could not be said for Pikachu.

"C-can't you put him in a Pokeball?" Marge asked, surprisingly tense. Apparently, she was one of the individuals who was afraid of Pokemon.

Ash shook his head. "No. He hates it in there."

"Well, can't he buck up for just one night?!" Marge was rather agitated around the electric mouse.

Pikachu hissed and began to spark in anger.

"Easy, buddy."

Suddenly, Anita had an idea. "I know! He can guard the bunkhouse!" she remarked brightly.

It seemed the best option, and after some thought, Pikachu agreed. It might be a good idea to watch the others...There was something off about this, and nobody could put their finger on it.

"Well!" Anita chipperly remarked once Marge started moving the Pokeballs. "Now that that's all settled, who's up for some dinner and apple pie!"

Everybody was, and the children walked into the orphanage right behind Anita. Marge walked over to the bunkhouse, Pikachu walking a fair distance behind her. Neither of them were keen on looking at each other.

_You'll regret this._

**_Read and Review, People! I'm not putting up another chapter until I get some feedback._**


	4. Chapter 3

Anita didn't skimp on her home cooking. It was a delicious-looking meal of roast pork, served with a selection of green salads and some form of mashed potatoes Brock didn't recognize. It was expertly prepared, and Ash wondered if they were having a party that just happened to be on the day they came by. Wouldn't be the strangest coincidence he'd seen.

The kitchen where the food was served looked every bit as homey as the rest of the orphanage. The entire place looked as though it had been plucked straight from the 1950's, with framed pictures and flower vases on old tables. Everyone sat down at a large table with a tablecloth. Anita, Ash, Brock, Dawn, Wally and several other children. They all wore fairly plain clothes, functional rather than decorative. The boys were in shirts and jeans, the girls in small dresses. A lot of them were Ash's age or younger. There were a few older boys in what resembled school uniforms, keeping an eye on the younger children.

Ash made a move for the potatoes, but his hand was gently slapped away by Anita. "Now, now, dear. We must say grace first."

Ash blinked. "Um, Grace?"

Brock and Dawn groaned, but Anita just laughed. "Not like that, dear. Just...fold your hands like this, close your eyes, and be silent."

Ash was still a little confused, but he did as Anita asked. So did everyone else, and the head of the orphanage began speaking.

"Lord, we ask a blessing for this meal and for this day. We thank you for delivering Wally from danger, and we thank you for the help of our guests, Ash, Dawn, and Brock. We pray that you may keep your hand over them and us, that you may sustain us, and that you may strengthen us. So be it, Amen." Once it was finished, she opened her eyes and smiled. "There. Now go ahead and eat, dears."

With that out of the way, everyone helped themselves to Anita's meal. It was every bit as delicious as it looked. Ash had been gorging on it for a few minutes when he noticed something.

"Hey...you guys are really quiet..."

Anita sighed. "A lot of my dears are terribly shy. Especially around Trainers...like I said, they're deathly afraid of those Pokemon."

"That's too bad..." Ash mused, looking around. These kids were very quiet, keeping their heads down while they ate. However, a couple of them looked up and smiled when they noticed Ash was looking at them. The smiles relaxed Ash.

Dawn tried to talk to a small brunette beside her. "Hey...what's your name?" She asked.

The little girl didn't answer, turning away from Dawn.

"Huh?"

"It's okay, sweetie." Anita spoke, looking at the girl in question. "Tell her your name."

The girl obediently looked up at Dawn. Her black hair was almost covering her green eyes. "M-my name is Anne." she smiled nervously.

"Hello, Anne. I'm Dawn. It's nice to meet you."

Anne nodded fitfully. "Y-yeah. It's nice...I'm sorry." She suddenly sniffled.

Dawn blinked. "You're sorry? For what?"

"It's nothing." Anita interjected. "My dears are just not used to talking over dinner."

"That's odd..."

"Don't worry too much about it. Just enjoy the meal. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."

* * *

Although dinner was rather awkward at times, none of the children were nervous about staying at Anita's orphanage for the night. Any fears or suspicions they had were calmed when they arrived at the guest bedroom.

Just like everything else in the orphanage, the guest bedroom was incredibly homey. The beds weren't from 4-star hotels, but they were large enough to be very comfy. Framed pictures of butterflies were hung on the walls, and there was a small balcony that let the guests get some fresh air.

It was definitely a nice place to sleep, and Dawn fell asleep in her bed pretty quickly. Brock had to find and use the bathroom first, and when he came back he saw Ash on the balcony, looking at the stars.

Brock sighed. "Still not sleeping?"

Ash shook his head. "You just noticed?" he sighed.

Brock pulled up a chair. "You never asked for more sleep pills, I thought..."

"It's not Mashura." Ash stopped him. "In fact I...I've actually been sleeping without the pills...It's just...the last few days have been a little...draining."

"What do you mean?"

Ash paced for a minute, glancing around the room for a second. "It's not...it's not Mashura. Or Kalville, or...I mean, sure I've been thinking about those places a lot, but...something else's been bugging me. Some...someone else."

Brock blinked. "Someone else?"

Ash smiled ruefully. "Aheh...it's stupid really. After everything, I'm hung up over..."

Brock sighed, figuring it out. "Paul."

Ash gritted his teeth and clenched his fists for a second. "Yeah, Paul."

The two boys were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. Brock got up and answered the door. It was Anita, carrying a server with a plate of cookies and three glasses of milk.

"To help you sleep, dears." Anita explained as she set the tray down on the small table by the beds. Ash and Brock quietly thanked her, not wanting to wake Dawn. She smiled, understanding, and left the room.

Brock sat himself on the bed beside the milk and cookies. "It's not like you to get so bummed out over one loss. At least, not like this..."

Ash was still pacing. "It's different with that jerk. He...how do I say it, he...he's everything I hate about everything I love! He treats his Pokemon like crap, treats everybody else the same way, he just...you saw what happened at the tag team tournament. I mean…you saw how he treated Chimchar!"

Brock nodded. Paul had overstrained that fire monkey the night before a big fight, so much do that it needed to stay in the hospital for the day. But the next day he sent Chimchar out to battle anyway, and when it froze up against a Pokemon it was rightfully scared of, he stopped giving any commands to it, leaving it to suffer in the fight without any guidance or support whatsoever. He released it afterwards, calling it 'pathetic'. In Ash's eyes, that was the worst thing a trainer could do.

"He thinks I'm weak just because I actually treat my Pokemon like my friends. Like it somehow makes them weaker if I don't treat them like...he does. I was gonna prove him wrong." Ash continued to vent, being careful not to wake Dawn. "But then he...he beats me! He walks all over me, and it looks like he's right!" Ash was getting more and more frustrated, almost pulling out his hair. "You know what he said to me, after the fight? _'I hope you think of this as a wake-up call, you pathetic weakling'_! Like I'm some amateur and HE'S the expert!"

Brock took a bite out of one of the cookies. "Yeah...I've been meaning to talk to you about that..."

Ash blinked. "What-what do you mean?"

Brock sighed. It was not gonna be easy to tell Ash this. "Well...um...truth is, you made a lot of...mistakes in that fight."

"Mistakes?!" Ash angrily demanded.

"Like...like...sending out Grotle against his Honchcrow when you still had Staraptor. You...you should've known better than that."

Ash tried to come up with a retort, but couldn't.

Brock couldn't hold back a tired yawn. "Actually...haahhh, the truth is, you haven't been doing so hot this entire time. You've been making a lot of dumb mistakes in some battles, mistakes you shouldn't be making. And you can't...haahhh...you can't blame Mashura, you've been making them since we started here."

Ash blinked. "Yeah?" his eyes looked around, thinking back on some of his recent losses. "...yeah..." he had to agree.

"It's like something else is..." Brock let out a bigger yawn. "Something else is bothering you. I get that Kalville isn't helping you sleep, but it shouldn't...shouldn't be affecting your battling sk-skills..."

Ash turned away for a second, thinking. Brock was right. It wasn't Kalville or Mashura that was hindering his skills lately. If it was, then he should've done a lot worse in the Hoenn tournament. There was something else that was affecting his skills. He sighed and turned around to tell Brock...

Only to see him fast asleep on top of the bed.

Ash groaned with exasperation. What, Brock was too tired to actually hear him out? He could criticize Ash, but couldn't be bothered to actually listen to why he was so preoccupied?! Start talking, and then just fall asleep?!

Still...they were all pretty tired. And the truth is, Ash's story could wait until morning. Maybe a good night's rest was in order.

Yawning himself, Ash went over to the last bed and laid down. _Hope I can sleep tonight. I really need it._ With that in mind, Ash closed his eyes.

* * *

James and Meowth hadn't stopped yawning since the sun had gone down. "Jess, can we PLEASE stop now? We're tired!"

"Just a little further..." Jessie tried to encourage.

"Dat's what you said back dere!" Meowth snapped. "How much is a 'little furtha'?"

"Right here!" Jessie skidded to a halt, causing everyone else to bump into her and send them all crashing to the ground.

"GET OFF ME YOU OAFS!" Jessie roared from the bottom of the pile. Her two friends obeyed quickly. "Look there!" she pointed. "The twerps are in there!"

Sure enough, they had arrived at Anita's orphanage. A lot of the lights had been shut off, but the building was unmistakable. From where they were standing, they could see the yard and bunkhouse, but nobody would notice them.

James groaned. "How do you know they're..."

"We know they came this way, and the twerps wouldn't turn down a free bed and meal."

"Neither would we..." James commented. "But what makes you…"

"Besides, look!" she pointed to a little yellow Pokemon lying down by the bunkhouse. "There's Pikachu! Right there for the taking!" Pikachu was sleeping in front of the bunkhouse door, right next to a bowl of milk.

"That's nice..." James yawned, trying hard to keep his eyes open.

Jessie tried to slap him awake. "Wake up, James! We can grab him and be gone before anyone notices!"

"Except her." Meowth suddenly piped up tiredly.

Sure enough, Marge had just walked outside and towards the bunkhouse. Very quickly and very furiously, the blonde woman picked up the sleeping Pokemon and tucked him into the bunkhouse. A second later, she left the bunkhouse, locking the door and running back to the orphanage.

Jessie gritted her teeth. "Ngh! Come on you two, we can't pass this up! We just need to..."

The second she turned around, she saw that both of her compatriots had fallen asleep.

She started twitching with rage and irritation. "What-are-you-idiots-doing?! Wake up! We can't pass this uh-huuuuuuuh-huuuuuuuh." On finding that she couldn't hold back a long yawn, she gave up and sighed. "Fine. First thing in the morning." she groaned, lying down on the ground beside the rest of her team and falling asleep.

_Pleasant dreams, everyone. They're the last ones you'll have._

**Read and review, guys. I'm not putting up another chapter until I get some feedback.**


	5. Chapter 4

Ash had only just closed his eyes when he heard a knock at the door. He tried to ignore it, but then whoever it was knocked again.

A bit annoyed, Ash sat up. Brock and Dawn were still sleeping, apparently not hearing the timid but clear rapping at the door._ Looks like I gotta answer it_, Ash thought with a sigh.

Getting up out of bed and trudging towards the door, Ash wondered if he was gonna fall asleep anyway. Opening the door, he looked up, expecting to see Anita. But she wasn't there.

"Hello." a small voice below him greeted.

Ash looked down to see another little boy. He was wearing the same shirt as Wally, but he was a little more pudgy and had short brown hair. His eyes seemed to be...older, strangely. But maybe that was just Ash.

Ash rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes. "Hello...who...who are you?"

"I'm Walter." the little boy answered.

Ash blinked. _Walter? Isn't that long for..."_Wally? But Wally's..."

"There's a lot of Wally's here." the kid answered Ash's question, shrugging. "Everybody just calls me Walter."

"Weird..." Ash yawned. "So...so what do you want?"

Walter twiddled his fingers nervously. "Um...I was...sleepwalking...and I don't wanna go back to the room alone."

Ash sighed. Why were these kids so scared of walking alone? Were they really so scared of Pokemon that they couldn't just...still, they were just little kids.

Ash sighed, smiling slightly. "Alright. Do you...know where your room is?"

Walter nodded and pointed down the hallway. With some slight reluctance, Ash stepped out, quietly closing his door and walking alongside Walter.

The further they went, the more Ash understood why Walter didn't want to be alone. Now that night had fallen, the 1950s home atmosphere had been replaced with shadows. The building was incredibly dark, with almost no lamps or candles to illuminate the rather oppressive darkness. And the quiet...there was something wrong about how quiet this place was. Ash couldn't hear anybody snoring. The only noise he heard sounded like...faint crying...

Ash shivered and hoped Walter's room was close by.

It was on the other side of the orphanage from Ash's room, and the trainer was starting to worry about how he'd get back to bed. But he'd soon find out that was the least of his worries.

He was just about to ask Walter if his room was close by when he heard a loud crack come from close by. The sudden sound made him jump. What was that? It sounded like a whip...

Ash thought he'd imagined it for a second, but then he heard someone crying and someone yelling. Something's wrong...

With Walter close by, Ash carefully crept towards the source of the sound. He had to investigate. If someone was getting hurt, he couldn't just ignore it. He just couldn't.

As he came closer and closer, he started to make out what the two people were saying...

"Buh-but Miss Holloway..."

"Don't you talk back to me, Adrian!"

"Suh-sorry..."

_Adrian? That's Wally's voice...isn't it?_

"Anita told me about how you held that little demon!"

"It's not a demon..."

TWACK! "YES IT IS! I've told you time and time again, those...things are an abomination unto our God!"

_Abominations...is she talking about Pikachu?! He's not an abomination! What is going on?!_

Ash had pinpointed the location of the noise as one of the doors on the left of the hallway. He quickly ran up to it.

"Say it! Say that the little creature you coddled was a monster! Say it!"

"Nuh-no..."

TWACK! "We've come too far in your lessons to have you be seduced by those beasts again! This is for your own-"

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Ash roared, ripping open the door. What he saw came as a shock.

In the middle of the room, tied to a chair with his wrists behind his back, was the boy Ash knew as Wally. His shirt was gone, and his chest and back were covered in bruises and cuts. Standing beside him was Marge, a belt in her hand and an expression of shocked rage on her face.

"You! You're supposed to be asleep!" she yelled.

"What do you think you're-" Ash stepped inside to free 'Wally', but was suddenly grabbed by two of Marge's helpers. Two tall men wearing brown robes forced his hands behind him."HEY!"

"I'm saving him." Marge stated matter-of-factly, holding up her belt. "Force is the only way to wake these children from the lies of this world."

Ash struggled fiercely, kicking and screaming. Somehow, he managed to get his hands free. "You're crazy! Walter!" he cried out.

But Walter was gone.

Ash realized that without his Pokemon, he was hopelessly outnumbered. Making a split-second decision, he ducked under the two helpers and ran back into the hallway.

He screamed for help, but nobody answered him. Behind him, he could hear Marge scream "AFTER HIM!" and the all too fast footsteps of the cloaked helpers.

Ash kept running, vaguely remembering the direction back to the guest room. But he could barely see any escape in the darkness. The once welcoming house was now a silent maze of oppressive shadows.

But somehow, he kept ahead of the helpers, even when more of them jumped out of the doorways to join the chase. A quick glance told him the front door was blocked, and all he could do was run past.

Eventually, he saw the doorway to the guest room. Two of the men in robes were right behind him. If he could get to his friends, maybe...just maybe...

"GUYS!" he burst through the door. "We gotta get out of-"

Nobody was inside. This was the same room he'd left Dawn and Brock in, but they weren't on their beds. They were gone.

_NO!_ Just as Ash decided to make a break for the window, he was set upon by several of Marge's helpers. He couldn't break free this time...these ones were much stronger. They held his wrists together and forced him to his feet.

A few seconds later, Anita strolled in. "Anita, what...what's going on? Where are my friends?! What did you do to them?!" Ash demanded.

Anita didn't answer. Instead, she looked at the table where she'd set down her milk and cookies not an hour ago. On seeing the two full glasses, she shook her head.

"No wonder you haven't been sleeping." she remarked gently, picking up one of the glasses. She was still smiling and talking like she had been since Ash had first seen her. "You haven't been drinking your milk."

Before Ash could protest, another helper grabbed his mouth and forced it open. Still smiling that warm smile, Anita poured the white milk into Ash's mouth.

Ash tried to yell, but the milk just gurgled in his mouth. "Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh." Anita shushed.

When the glass had been emptied into Ash's mouth, the helper holding it open clamped it shut, preventing Ash from spitting out the drugged drink. He tried desperately not to swallow, but his mouth couldn't help but drink the delicious milk down...

Ash's entire world spun, all he could see was Anita's smile and the masks the helpers wore...gold plated...they looked like monsters...he fell to the floor...his eyes were getting heavy...he saw Walter...

Something was wrong with his shadow...it was too big...was someone else behind him?

That was the last thing he saw before everything went black...

_I'm sorry._


	6. Chapter 5

Dawn shifted uncomfortably, mumbling in her sleep. She didn't get why the bed was suddenly so hard. When she had lain down, it felt as soft as a cloud. But now...it felt like she'd fallen onto an ice-cold earth.

Dawn was confused, and then she opened her eyes. The bed was gone. Ash and Brock were gone. The room was gone. She woke up with a start, eyes wide open. She was in a tiny room, with almost nothing inside. No beds, no pictures, no windows. Just darkness.

All except for one tiny beam of light.

Confused, worried and not convinced she wasn't just dreaming, Dawn crept over to the light. It was coming from a very tiny hole in the wall. When Dawn tried to look into the hole, she saw almost nothing. It was too bright, compared to the blackness she'd woken up too.

Before her eyes could get adjusted, the hole was filled with someone's green eye. Dawn gasped and jumped back.

"Sh!" the eye hushed. "Be quiet! If she f-finds out...shhh."

Dawn blinked. She recognized that voice..."Anne? What's going on?" she whispered. "What happened?"

Anne sniffled. "The same thing that happened to me. And the others."

Dawn started shivering. "The...others? Whuh...where are my friends? Where's Ash and Brock?!"

Anne sighed from the other side of the wall. "Somewhere else. The boys are in a different end of the orphanage."

Dawn was utterly confused and terrified. "What. Is. Going. On?" she demanded.

Anne gulped. "Be very quiet when I tell you to be, and I'll tell you what I k-know."

Dawn nodded, frightened. This wasn't good at all, and something told her that the answers wouldn't be pleasant. She still had to know. "Ok. Ok, tell me."

It was the bumping that woke Ash back up. It took Ash a second to realize why he was bumping. He recalled falling asleep in the backseat of a car, and this was what it felt like. He was rattled out of the darkness, and he swiftly opened his eyes.

He still saw darkness. Something was covering his eyes. A thick blindfold. When he tried to move, he realized he'd been tied up. When he tried to yell, he realized he'd been gagged.

Now completely awake, Ash tried vainly to struggle out of his bonds. But even with panic supplying his muscles with adrenaline, he couldn't break the ropes around him.

"You're awake?! I don't believe it! It couldn't have worn off that fast!"

Ash felt a shiver of rage go down his spine. iMarge!/i He would've yelled for an explanation, but the gag prevented him from so much as growling.

Marge's voice sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter."

Ash felt a horrible heaviness in his stomach. Helpless. He didn't have his Pokemon or his friends, and now he was being carted far away from them. He couldn't do anything about it. He was helpless. Again.

"It's for your own good, you know." Marge continued from the driver's seat. "You're so blinded by the allure of this world. You can't see things for what they truly are. You believe all the lies."

Anger replaced Ash's helplessness. What was she talking about? Was she saying that everything he believed in was a lie? Like SHE knew what was right? After what he'd seen her do? Was she taunting him? No, it sounded like she honestly believed in what she was saying.

"You'll learn the truth soon enough." Marge remarked in that patronizing tone. "And when you do, you'll understand."

Ash doubted that whatever 'truth' he'd learn would ever make him understand. What was going on?

"Muh-my name isn't Anne. Wasn't Anne. It's...it's Mary. I was...I was traveling with my big brother when we found this place." Anne...no, Mary sniffled.

"Mary? But...why would they...?"

"Dyed my hair, changed my name. Made me change it. So nobody notices the girl who was missing. They do the same to the others. Kill the old self, Anita called it."

"But...Why? Why would they do this?" Dawn demanded, her eyes growing wide in the darkness.

"To make us... To make us believers."

Dawn gulped. A cult? She'd heard about those on TV, but she'd never thought that she'd...she'd..."Why don't you run?"

"We've tried. The Missionary always finds us... Hurts us..." Mary sobbed at the painful memory. "...or our friends...or our families. He always finds them."

Dawn shivered in the cold, frightened. She tried to find some hope in this dismal situation. "A...Ash won't let this happen. He...he'll fight, he'll..."

"So did my brother." Mary was softly crying now. "Th-They just take them to the Water Prison. To the ...the Missionary. And when they come back...they never fight again."

Dawn swallowed her fear. No, that wouldn't happen. Ash was a fighter. He'd gotten them out of worse before, he could do so again...right?

The car suddenly stopped, nearly making Ash fall over. He heard the car doors open, but with the blindfold over his eyes, he couldn't see the people grabbing him and forcing him out of the car. He struggled valiantly, but he simply couldn't stop the people moving him.

At first, he heard leaves crunching underneath him. Then it was the rattling of...wood planks? Was he crossing a bridge? A plank? He heard water, the way a lake sounds. Were they going to drown him?

Marge's commanding voice dispelled those thoughts. "Take him inside. Tell the missionary that the brunette is a fighter, and that Adrian needs to relearn his lessons."

Ash gasped inwardly. Adrian was with him? The kid who Marge was beating? The boy who tricked them into going into the orphanage in the first place? Why was he with him?

Ash didn't have time to collect his thoughts, as he was quickly moved away. The people half carried, half shoved Ash into...some sort of metal building, by the way the floors felt on his feet.

He heard the door close behind him with a heavy SLAM. Ash quivered in his bonds as he realized he was trapped.

Ash was moved through several other corridors. Struggling was utterly fruitless, and soon the boy was too exhausted to resist.

They finally reached their destination, and Ash was forced to sit down. He felt the bonds around his hands being cut, and tried one last time to struggle. Too many hands prevented him from doing very much, and soon his wrists were once again bound, this time to a chair's armrests.

"GET RID OF THOSE ROPES. THEY'LL JUST SOFTEN THE BLOWS." a new voice, an incredibly guttural snarl, ordered.

The rest of the ropes tying Ash up were cut or untied, except for the rope around his feet. Ash squirmed in his seat, trying to get the blood flowing into his limbs again.

Then, without warning, the blindfold was ripped off. The sudden show of lights temporarily blinded Ash, and he had to blink several times to get a bearing on his location.

He was in a...room. He couldn't really describe it, the lighting was too dim for him to make out any details. The floor and walls were steel, the place smelled like rust, and sitting next to him was Wally.

Realizing that the boy he'd led into this was looking at him, the bound Adrian could only mouth 'I'm sorry'.

Ash tried to scream through his gag, but he was suddenly struck on the face. "NOBODY CAN HEAR YOU, 'FIGHTER'." The voice snarled. Ash turned to look at who struck him.

The Missionary was a tall man…not superhumanly tall, but he was tall enough to be intimidating. He was wearing a bloodstained smock, with long gloves that were so soaked in blood they were completely crimson. A burlap sack was tied around his head with several belts, and it was unclear how he was able to see through the mask.

He loomed over Ash and Wally, his breathing heavy and hungry. The children felt a winter's worth of ice go down their backs as they realized they were at this monster's mercy.

iHe's nothing. A Pyramid Head wannabe. You haven't seen anything yet./i


	7. Chapter 6

The Missionary just stared down at Ash like he was nothing. The boy had stopped struggling, paralyzed with fear as his situation sunk in. His mind raced furiously, as he tried to think of an escape.

"NOW," the man wearing the burlap sack casually grabbed the gag around Ash's mouth. The boy shivered as he felt the still-warm blood touch his face. What had this...this guy been doing before they came in?

"WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO SAY?" with a sharp tug, the gag was ripped off Ash's mouth.

The boy gasped for breath, but didn't answer. His head hung low, trying not to look at the Missionary.

The man in the bloody smock was not pleased. Grabbing his hair, he forced the boy to look up. "LOOK AT ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!" he roared.

It suddenly hit Ash what the Missionary's voice sounded like. It was like someone in an amusement park, making what he thought sounded like a snarl to frighten little kids. It was almost comical...but Ash couldn't bring himself to laugh at this situation.

In the other chair, Adrian was just whimpering.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. WANT. TO. SAY?" the missionary demanded, clearly annoyed. However, when he saw Ash glance at Adrian, he calmed down. "WAS IT, 'THANK YOU, WALLY'?"

Ash gasped. "What?! N-no!"

The Missionary tightened his grip on Ash's hair, making him wince in pain. "YOU SHOULD THANK HIM. BECAUSE OF HIM, YOU GOT A CHANCE TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING. TO SEE THE WORLD FOR WHAT IT TRULY IS."

Ash scoffed, despite the pain. "Yeah, right."

The Missionary let go of Ash's hair, unimpressed. "THEY ALL SAY THAT AT FIRST." the huge man remarked, turning his attention to Adrian.

"AND YOU. I REMEMBER YOU. SISTER HOLLOWAY TELLS ME YOU FORGOT YOUR LESSONS."

Adrian shivered uncontrollably. "No...no...I...I remember."

"THEN SAY THEM."

Adrian gulped, stammering for a few seconds. Then he started reciting something, as quickly and as clearly as he could manage. "'I-in the Buh-beginning, people had Nuh-nothing. Their bodies a-ached, their huh-hearts held nothing but hatred...They...they fought endlessly, b-but death never came..they despaired, stuck in the eternal...the eternal...um...'"

The Missionary growled.

"Quagmire! Quagmire, the eternal quagmire!" Adrian gasped. "A man offered a...a...a...reed to the-"

"NO!" The Missionary snarled, backhanding the helpless child. "THAT'S WRONG, YOU WRETCHED LITTLE BRAT!"

Ash couldn't take it anymore. "Leave him alone!"

Adrian just babbled "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

The man in the bloodstained smock turned around, laughing scornfully. "YOU BE QUIET. YOU'LL LEARN NOT TO QUESTION YOUR BETTERS."

Ash snorted. "Hitting a kid who can't hit back? You're not strong." he had to take his attention off Adrian. He could handle what this lunatic had.

The Missionary paused, before remarking sourly, "YOU'RE IN NO POSITION TO LAUGH AT ME."

"You're just a..." Ash forced himself to laugh. "Just a bully."

_That_ got the Missionary's attention. In the space of a second, the giant was looming over Ash, his bloodied gloves pressing into the boy's bound wrists.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO I AM! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL ME A BULLY! I SWEAR TO YOU, WRETCH, BEFORE THIS NIGHT IS OVER, YOU WILL BE AT MY FEET BEGGING FOR RELIEF FROM THE...Pain..."

That was when the Missionary noticed something. Ash's face was contorted in pain, real pain, but he wasn't doing anything to do it. The only thing he was doing was leaning on the boy's hands...

An idea struck the Missionary. The boy's hands were in fingerless gloves. Were they a fashion statement? Or was he wearing them to cover a wound?

Intrigued, the giant pressed into the back of one wrist. Nothing. The other one...Ash tried to hold back an exclamation of pain, but he couldn't hide the way he winced as the pressure on a certain wound increased.

Ash could imagine the Missionary smiling under that burlap sack. "HEHEH...WELL, MIGHT AS WELL GET STARTED." he chuckled with that guttural voice as he turned away from the two boys.

On the wall nearby was some sort of cabinet, holding several tools of...Ash shivered at the thought of what they were used for. Placed most prominently were two giant switchblades, each roughly the size of an adult's arm. There were clubs, rods, whips, what looked like a head sized box, things with nails jutting out of them...

Ash thought about the Executioner's collection back in Mashura. At least then, the nightmarish instruments could pass for things a butcher would use in his job. Different size cleavers for different kinds of meat. But here? Everything in the Missionary's cabinet had one purpose, and it was to torture. One way or another.

The Missionary passed over some of the mode elaborate tools in favor of a metal rod. He then stepped towards Ash, casually slapping the metal against the palm of his hand.

"HERE'S WHAT WILL HAPPEN, FIGHTER. I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU JUST A SMALL TASTE OF WHAT I CAN DO. THEN WE'LL SEE WHAT YOU NEED TO ACCEPT THE LIGHT OF TRUTH. YOU _WILL_ ACCEPT THE TEACHINGS OF OUR ORDER. ONE WAY OR ANOTHER."

Ash tried to scoff, but he didn't see any chance of getting out of here. All he could see was that metal rod, and all he could think about was how it would hurt on that burn of his...

Relishing the child's fright, the torturer grabbed the edge of Ash's glove. Not wanting the fabric to cushion any of his blows, the Missionary tore it off...

And froze.

For a second, he just stood there, staring at the uncovered back of Ash's hand. Ash was confused for a second, and then it hit him.

Pyramid Head's mark.

"WHAT?!" The Missionary screamed, trying to get a closer look at the burn scar. In his haste, he yanked Ash's hand towards his face, almost wrenching the boy's arm. The iron rod clattered to the floor, forgotten in the torturer's shock.

Bringing it right up to his face only confirmed his suspicions. "The Halo of the Sun..." he breathed, his guttural growl completely gone. "But...but how?! Why would he give it to..."

The burlap sack spun around, and Ash felt the Missionary looking right into his eyes.

"**You...**"

The pure hatred spoken through that word surprised Ash. Did this guy...know him? It was like the Missionary had only just recognized him now...but he'd never...what was going on?

Suddenly breathing very hard, the Missionary let go of Ash's hand. He ran back towards the cabinet, laughing like a demented child. "Heh...heheh...hehehehehahaa..." Gone was the snarling attempts at being intimidating. In their place was a twisted, hateful, almost childish glee that was genuinely frightening.

Suddenly, Ash realized something. His hand was free! Spurred by adrenaline, he set to work undoing the bonds around his other hand.

The Missionary rifled through his tools, chuckling as he sorted through painful instruments of brutality. "I can't believe it, I'm going to enjoy this so much..."

Ash couldn't waste any time, and with both his hands free, he undid the ropes around his ankles.

The Missionary finally found what he wanted. It was a rather complicated machine, built to house someone's head. There was no chance of anyone surviving the slow, painful death it inflicted. He had been saving this for a special occasion. Here excited Missionary turned to see its recipient...

Only to see an empty chair. "WHAT?!"

Ash ran over to Adrian's chair, and worked furiously on the child's bonds. The boy was completely confused. "Wha-what's-what's-"

Ash shook his head as he untied the kid's hand. "Don't worry, we're getting out of here, just-"

Adrian screamed and pointed behind Ash. The boy whirled around to see the Missionary swinging one of the huge switchblades at his head.

Faster than he thought he could, Ash ducked and the blade whizzed over his head. When he glanced up, he saw that the torturer was wielding two of the blades, and had the other one coming down onto his head.

Ash quickly rolled away and got back onto his feet. He didn't have time to look behind him before the Missionary roared and tried to take another swipe at him. Ash barely dodged this attack, nearly losing his arm.

He heard a young voice say Something. It sounded like Adrian.

_RUN._

So he did. Spinning around in his heels, Ash bolted for the door. Screaming with rage, the Missionary chased him and nearly skewered him on his blade. Ash had to leap into the doorway, grabbing the handle and twisted it in a swift motion.

Miraculously, it was unlocked.

Ash sped down the hallway, not looking behind him to see the Missionary topple through the doorway and get his blades caught in...something.

Hearing the Missionary roar like a wounded animal behind him only made him run faster, praying that he could outrun this monster. Ash ran into the dark halls of the water tower, not knowing where he was going but never stopping.

_So it begins._


	8. Chapter 7

Ash didn't know where he was going, but he kept pushing himself forward. He couldn't afford to stop. Every time he figured he could stop and catch his breath, he heard footsteps behind him and he had to run even faster.

He couldn't go on forever. Eventually, he was forced to stop. Hands on his knees, he very nearly collapsed onto the metal floor as he struggled to regain his breath. He gasped for breath, trying to get his strength back.

Suddenly, he heard the Missionary's voice. _"SERVANTS OF THE ORDER!"_ It took Ash a second to notice the electronic twang in the voice- he was speaking through the intercom. _"ONE OF THE BRATS HAS GOTTEN AWAY FROM ME! HE'S IN THE WATER TOWER, SPREAD OUT AND FIND HIM, NOW! BRING HIM STRAIGHT TO ME, UNDERSTAND?! THE LITTLE BASTARD'S MINE!"_

Ash felt a surge of hope. _He doesn't know where I am!_ But then he heard a lot of shoes clacking on the metal floor, coming towards him...

The boy was too exhausted to run. He had to hide. But where? To his left he saw a set if storage closets. All of them were large enough to hold him, and one of them was wide open and empty.

Without thinking, Ash jumped into the hiding place and slammed the door shut. The only source of light once the locker was closed was a sliver coming from the bottom of the door. His shaking hands holding the door closed, he waiting in darkness for the footsteps to pass.

A few pairs of feet walked up to the storage lockers. The shadows shifting in what light there was told Ash that several people were nearby.

"The Missionary lost one of his charges?" One voice remarked. "That never happens."

"It had to happen eventually. Just find him." Another voice commented.

"What if he got outside? Could he have jumped out a window?"

"No. The windows are all locked. Besides, even if he somehow jumped, we'd see his body in the lake."

Ash didn't dare breath as the group continued to talk. Why weren't they leaving? What were they doing? They couldn't find him. Could they?

"No, he's hiding here somewhere."

"Can't he send out the dogs?"

"They don't have his scent. Besides, they aren't trained right. They'd probably just slay us before they even started looking for him."

Ash could hear a locker door open. Then another. Then another. He froze when it sunk in. They were checking the lockers! And coming up to his! They were going to find him!

The group continued to talk as they searched. "Keep checking. Makes sense to hide here."

"Yeah. I'm almost done with these lockers..."

Ash couldn't stop shaking. He was doomed. He was outnumbered, too tired to fight, too weary to run. They were gonna find him. There was nothing he could do. Hopeless, he shut his eyes and waited for the inevitable...

When suddenly there was a noise. A loud, echoing clatter at the other end of the hallway.

"What was that?"

"Over there! I see him!"

And the shadows ran away from the lockers, not bothering to check the last one. The one where Ash was hiding.

Ash wasn't sure what to think of this. They were gone? He was safe again? It seemed too good to be true. Something was odd…but when he didn't hear any noise that indicated anyone was close by, he allowed himself to breath. He just sat there for several moments, trying to catch his breath.

But then another person walked up to the locker. Someone taking slow, deliberate steps. Heavy steps.

Ash held his breath again, praying that whoever it was would just pass by. But he didn't. In fact, it sounded like he'd just stopped right in front of his locker.

Inexplicably, Ash felt like two very intense eyes were looking straight at him. They just kept staring and staring, and the man in front of the locker never moved. The same eyes he felt for a second in the woods. They never looked away from him.

Ash couldn't sit still forever. _He's one guy. Nobody else is out there. I'd have heard them. I can take him. I've rested enough. I can run. I just need to be fast. I'm not staying here forever! I just need to move fast._

Without thinking Ash tore the door open and charged out, hoping to give whoever it was a sharp pain. Just enough to stun him and let Ash escape. Just hit him hard...

But he tumbled into thin air.

When Ash fell to the floor, he quickly forced himself up and spun around. Nobody was here. The hallway was completely empty. He couldn't believe it.

_But...but someone was right here! I know he was here! A cold dread, different from the panic the Missionary had instilled in him, went down his spine. What's going on? Am I going nuts?_

When the initial shock of finding himself alone had worn off somewhat, Ash took another look at his surroundings. The entire hallway seemed to be dominated by blood-red rust. The floor, the walls, the ceiling...everything was grey-brown metal caked in sickly red. Fluorescent lights overhead illuminated the place, flickering randomly. Across from the lockers was a small table, a few pieces of paper on top.

Ash blinked and took a closer look at the paper. It was rough, with a lot of scribbles and weird letters all over it. But under the scribbles, clearly legible, were blueprints of a circular building, showing all the rooms and hallways...

A map!

Ash nearly laughed with delight. This was just what he needed! Ash took a closer look. There were a lot of circles around important locations. It took him a minute to find the lockers, marked with blue. This was the same floor as the holding area, where he'd just left...

Adrian.

It suddenly struck Ash. He'd left Adrian behind! He couldn't save him...he'd just ran...had to get away from the Missionary. Had to escape...he couldn't rescue him then…

But now he had a map! Now he knew where to go! Now he knew how to get out of this place! He could escape! Save everybody!

He had to get Adrian out of this place. If he left him behind...Ash didn't want to think about what would happen to the poor kid. He might've gotten Ash and his friends into this mess, but he didn't deserve to...

Ash made up his mind. He'd get Adrian, then they'd get out of here. He looked at where the holding room was, then started back down the hallway he'd just exited. Quickly but carefully, he made his way back to rescue Adrian. He'd get him out, they'd escape, and everything would be alright.

_Don't be too sure._

Ash whirled around, shocked. He couldn't sworn he'd heard someone say something. Someone with a deep, eerily calm voice…

But nobody was there. Nobody was in the hallway. Nobody had spoken to him. Nobody was watching him.

Ash did everything he could to keep calm. He didn't succeed. His hands shook, his knees knocked, his breath hoarsened. He couldn't do anything to shake off the feeling that someone was watching him. Toying with him. He honestly would've taken the Missionary chasing him over this unseen follower.

However, he got himself together and pressed on. The last thing he wanted to do was to stay here, scared. As long as he could keep moving, do…something, he'd be okay.

Yeah. Long as he was doing something.


	9. Chapter 8

Ash was very surprised at how...quiet it was. He was expecting an army of the Missionary's followers to be everywhere, tearing the place apart searching. Indeed, more than once he had to hide in a convenient shadow upon hearing approaching footsteps. Thankfully, the men in robes always walked right past him, never seeing him.

But why weren't there more? He expected a bigger hunting party, especially considering the Missionary's orders. He'd only seen a handful of members at a time, and with the way they were dressed, it was hard to tell if they weren't the same people over and over.

_It doesn't matter._ Ash decided. _There probably isn't that many people here, period. I just need to take advantage of it._

He rechecked his map again. He was coming up to the room he'd just escaped from. How ironic. At least now he had something of a plan and wouldn't be running blindly away again.

He had to be careful. Constantly looking around for guards, Ash opened the doorway a crack and peered inside.

Adrian was still there, tied to the chair. But it looked like no-one else was in the room at all. This was perfect!

Ash opened the door and rushed to Adrian. "Adrian!" He whispered as he came closer to the boy. "Let's go, I got a..."

His words died on his tongue. As did his hopes.

Adrian wasn't moving. He wasn't blinking. He wasn't breathing. His face had gone deathly pale, his mouth was slack, his eyes...they stared right into Ash's soul, those cold, dead eyes.

Right under his gaping mouth was a deep cut that had long since stopped bleeding. Blood was splattered all over his shirt and the floor, leaving a red splotch on the iron floor.

Ash was too late. "No..." He breathed. He couldn't take his eyes off of Adrian's. They were staring, begging, accusing...

The Missionary did this, that monster! He must've...when I left, but...why...

Unbidden, a flashback came to Ash...

_Adrian screamed and pointed behind Ash. The boy whirled around to see the Missionary swinging one of the huge switchblades at his head. __Faster than he thought he could, Ash ducked and the blade whizzed over his head..._

Oh no...

Ash touched the top of his head. Something sticky was in his hair. He hadn't noticed it before, he was too scared to.

"No..." Ash started to cry. This was his fault. If he hadn't...if he hadn't ducked when the Missionary swiped at him...if he hadn't been there at that exact moment...if he hadn't...

Ash didn't know what to think. He tried to save this kid, and instead he killed...no. The Missionary killed him. He just happened to be there. He just had to be a hero...

Now, all he could do was close Adrian's eyes with his hand.

Ash was paralyzed, but then he heard a noise that immediately snapped him out of his stupor. On the other side of the wall, metal scraping on metal and angry ranting.

The Missionary was coming back!

Ash's eyes desperately searched the room for someplace he could hide. A box, a closet, anything. The tool locker? No, the Missionary would definitely look there. Dammit! Wait...there was a table at the other end of the room, with some sort of cloth over it. It looked like it was used to wipe off the tools...It'd have to do. Ash bolted underneath and tried to keep from shaking as the Missionary entered the room. Please don't see me, please don't see me...

Luckily, he didn't. He didn't even glance at the table. The man in the burlap sack simply stormed over to Adrian's dead body. He looked at it for a moment, but Ash couldn't tell if he noticed or cared Adrian's eyes were closed. Suddenly, the giant swatted the dead kid with one of his switchblades, sending the corpse-laden chair to the floor. Letting out a scream of pure frustration, the Missionary kicked him aside like he was a drink can.

"Stupid little bastard...think he can escape from me? Huh?! I'll rip his f***ing face off and feed it to those mutts, then I'll find that whore who-"

His enraged raving was interrupted by someone opening the door. Ash silently cursed. Another one of the men in robes. How was he going to get out of here now?

Now Ash had a better look at one of the 'helpers' that had brought him here. He was wearing a brown/black robe, so generic that Ash figured it was standard fare for cultists. His face was hidden behind a mask. The mask itself looked like some kind of insect, complete with fangs and pointed eyes. It looked as if it was crafted more for the purpose of hiding the cultist's identity and making him look frightening than any symbolic value.

Whoever he was, he was not happy about speaking with the Missionary. His knees knocked and his voice faltered, all while he shook like a leaf.

The Missionary didn't have any patience at all. "WELL? Where is that bastard?! You told me you had him!"

"We-we thought we did, but then-"

"You LOST him?!"

"It wasn't- URK!"

Missionary didn't wait for an explanation. He grabbed the hapless messenger by the neck and forced him against a wall. "You idiot! How difficult is it to find him?! Huh? Now I lost BOTH of these brats!" Suddenly, the Missionary whipped out a small knife. "SOMEONE'S going to pay!"

The cultist shook in terror. The Missionary forced his mask off, revealing a terrified man with wide eyes. "It-it wasn't my..."

"SHUT UP!" Missionary began digging into the cultists eyes, slowly and painfully. As the cultist screamed in agony, the Missionary began giggling incessantly.

A thought occurred to Ash. That monster was completely focused on punishing his charge. The door was wide open. This was his chance for escape! Without hesitation, Ash bolted out of the table and towards the doorway.

"That whoreson isn't going to get away from me!" The Missionary ranted to the blinded cultist. "I'll find him, and I'll MAKE HIM SUFFER! NOBODY ESCAPES THE MISSIONARY!"

If the Missionary had turned around, he would've seen Ash running out the door.

The steel floor rattled as the young trainer ran desperately through the all-too-narrow corridor, looking for the exit on the map. He bolted down stairs and hallways, not waiting for a second. Luckily, nobody tried to stop him or capture him. In fact, it seemed like there was nobody else in the water prison.

Ash hated hiding. He hated running. He hated not being able to do anything. But there wasn't anything else he could do. His Pokemon were gone. His backpack was gone. His friends weren't here. And with him was someone who was every bit as violent and cruel as Pyramid Head had ever been. If not more so.

He had to get out. If he did, he could get the police here. He could save everyone. He might not have been able to help Adrian, but he could help so many others. He could…

Ash stopped, dead in his tracks. He couldn't believe his eyes. **"NO!"** he screamed, not caring if anyone heard him. Or if that THING heard him.

It just couldn't be simple, could it?

Something was blocking the way out. His escape was barred by…He didn't even know how do describe it. It looked like…it looked like one of Pyramid Head's meat sacks, somehow come alive. It was dangling from the ceiling to the floor, a meaty, decaying THING surrounded by a metal cage that looked too heavy to move and too dangerous to approach unarmed. It had two mouths that twitched constantly, laughing at the boy for thinking he could get away so easily.

And it was sitting right in front of the way out.

"No, no NOOOO!" Ash screamed before stopping himself. He couldn't lose his grip now. True, everything seemed to be going against him, but…he just needed to stay calm, figure a way out, everything would be okay. He had been through crap like this before, and he'd pulled through. He just needed to…

Tiny footfalls jarred his train of thought, and the boy whirled around to see who had snuck up on him.

His eyes widened as he saw a small, bloodied figure with a lizard's skull for a head, clutching a tiny pocketknife in it's grubby hands. It's entire body was covered with bloody bandages, particularly around the hands and chest. It hobbled towards Ash as if it's leg was broken.

"No." Ash gasped. "Nonononononononono…"

"What's the matter, Daddy?" the creature asked, his voice hissing like an angry snake. "Aren't you happy to see me again?"


	10. Chapter 9

Brock was in heaven. Surrounded by countless pretty Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys, all of whom were singing his praises. And no Croagunk or jealous ear-grabber in sight. They were all guiding him to a gigantic bed, and Brock was really looking forward to what was next.

He flung himself onto the bed...

And winced in pain as the bed was rock hard and ice cold. The boy woke up with a start, rubbing his very sore back.

"Ugh..." Brock groaned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Must've fallen on the floor..."

But when he looked around, he saw no sign of the bed. Or the room. Or his friends.

Suddenly very awake, Brock leapt up to his feet. He was in an empty room...no, a cell! A cell with no windows, beds, or anything else. He couldn't even see a door. Just a crack in the wall a tiny but of light filtered through.

_What the hell's going on?!_ Brock was about to yell for help when he heard some voices coming from the crack. Voices he recognized as Anita and Marge, the two women in charge of this place. Sensing something was very wrong, Brock cautiously crept closer.

"...how long should we keep the two in there?" Anita was asking.

"A day or so. Long enough for hunger to sap their fighting strength. If their friend is any indication, these children are going to be some trouble." Marge answered matter-of-factly.

"They'll come around. Don't worry about that. And I'm sure the Missionary will take the fight right out of that dear, Ash." Anita continued in that same sickly sweet voice she used to welcome the group here. "Now, is there anything else? I have to make breakfast for the children."

Marge's voice hesitated for a second, before saying. "No. Nothing that can't wait."

"All righty then." Anita chuckled. Faint footsteps indicated that the two woman had left whatever room they were in.

Brock froze. They'd been kidnapped...imprisoned! And they didn't have their Pokemon...and he didn't have his backpack, either. A search through his jeans confirmed that they had taken his phone. He couldn't call for help. Where were Ash and Dawn?

A hundred questions went through his head. Not a single answer came to him. All he could do was shiver on the cold floor.

Pikachu woke up in a cage. He opened his eyes to see metal bars all around him, with darkness in the background. The second he saw where he was, he roared and let out a powerful thunderbolt. But it did nothing to the cage.

The next thing he tried was ramming it, but the cage was secured to the ground...no, the table it was on. Pikachu blinked the pain away and tried to get a better grip of his surroundings.

He was inside a small, dingy building. The morning light that had woken him up was coming through a nearby window. Pikachu's cage and the racks and racks of Pokeballs had been arranged around the room so nobody looking in the window would notice them.

At the end of the room, illuminated by light was a gigantic...Pikachu wasn't quite sure what that was. It looked like an oven, with a smokestack going through the ceiling, but it was big enough to hold a human. It was grey, cold and rusty, giving off a foreboding feel.

Pikachu tried shocking and ramming the cage again, but nothing worked. He couldn't get out. The Pokeballs were too far away from him to be any help. All he could do was cry for help.

Nobody heard him.

Ash's mouth had gone completely dry. Right in front of him was a creature from Kalville, one of the monsters he had created with Alessa's power. The fog, the tournament, Satos, Ed...it all came rushing back to him. The Skull Child.

He thought he'd left it behind him...but no. Was it following him? First there was Mashura and Pyramid Head, and now...he had half-expected that he'd see more of Silent Hill but...not like this...

The skull child growled. "Did you think you could just run away, Daddy?" It asked, anger in it's voice.

Ash didn't know what to say. What could he say? This thing, this manifestation of his that was supposed to be gone forever. Was it angry that Ash left it behind ? How could it be? It ceased to exist when Alessa took her power back. How did it return? Why here?! Why now?! And why was it mad at him?

"Look...I..." Ash stammered for a second, unable to come up with anything resembling an answer. "I didn't...I...I'm..." Eventually he shook his head clear and pointed to the monster blocking the doorway. "I...I need to get out of here. Can you...can you help me?"

The monster child shook his head. "No." It said in an angry tone. "I helped you already. You help yourself now."

Ash was stunned by this declaration. "What?! But I can't...I don't have my Pokemon! I don't have my..." he stammered before being interrupted.

"You don't need them! You need to find the story."

Now Ash was totally perplexed. "The...story?"

It was then Ash noticed that the monster was clutching a piece of paper in it's grubby hands. With some hesitation, the creature held up the paper for Ash to take. With some reluctance, Ash did so.

On it was a crude drawing of a woman standing next to...Ash had to squint his eyes to make it out. The crayon drawing (Ash hoped it was crayon, it was all very red) looked...like the monster that was blocking the doorway. The title read 'ThE PrIEsTEss aNd The GluTToN'.

It was blank on the other side.

Ash looked up to try and question the skull child, but it had already vanished. Looking around, Ash didn't even glimpse the creature darting away. It was just...gone. Vanished. But the Glutton was still there, rumbling like a hungry tiger.

Despite the situation, Ash couldn't help but groan. So he had to search this entire place for the rest of the story? This gigantic prison, with countless rooms and passageways, and he needed to find a few sheets if paper if he was going to escape?

"Where do I...where do I even start?" Ash muttered to himself, looking at the map.

_At the beginning of the lesson._

Ash jumped. That voice again! He'd definitely heard it this time. But once again, nobody was in sight. Nothing in the hall but him and the Glutton...and Ash somehow doubted that thing was the one who talked.

Ash decided to step away from the creature, not wanting to stay too close to it. It seemed immobile, but Ash couldn't shake the feeling that it could leap at him and devour him whole in a second. That it was just waiting.

Where the lesson begins? Clearly, that was the only hint he was going to get. Ash looked at the map, trying to decipher that clue. Lesson, lesson...wait, didn't Marge say Adrian needed to relearn his lessons? Is there a room for that? Maybe that's what it meant.

Considering the map for some time, Ash noticed a room labeled 'classroom'. That was as good a place as any to start. From the look of it, it was on this floor...Ash figured out the direction to take and started walking.

_I'm getting out of here,_ Ash told himself. _I'm gonna get out. Pikachu, Brock, Dawn, be okay. Stay okay. I'm coming. It's going to be okay. I'm gonna get everybody out of here. I just need to...I just..._

_Arceus help me…_


	11. Chapter 10

Every so often, Ash would hear a footstep that made him duck for the nearest thing that resembled cover. At least twice he had to hide from a cultist walking through the hallways. Every creak of a footstep, every click of a doorknob, every hiss of water, it was going to kill him or worse.

The way to the classroom was almost short, but it felt like miles for Ash. He had to constantly stop, terrified that he might've been detected and only moving again when he was absolutely sure he was safe.

It occurred to him that he hadn't encountered any cultists in his rush for the door. Was he just lucky? That was the only explanation. And for that matter, why hadn't anyone heard him speaking to the skull child? It seemed like he was only in trouble when...when something _wanted _him to be in trouble.

Ash shook that thought from his head. That's ridiculous. It's just luck. Nobody was around the entrance at the time. It was just his luck. He needed that luck.

Come to think of it, all of the men in robes he'd seen were heading where he'd just left, the doorway out. Investigating the Glutton, probably. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll dispose of it, and I can slip out then.

But he didn't turn around. Something told him that answers would be in the classroom. And as much as he wanted to escape, he wanted answers as well.

He finally came up to the door. Ash blinked when he noticed the symbol painted on the door. Was that...yeah, it was the Executioner's mark. The symbol of Pyramid Head...or was it really his symbol?

Ash glanced down at his hand. The burn that had set the Missionary off was still there. He hadn't looked at it in a long time, not since Mashura. The colours had faded to a dull brown, the pain was gone and Ash figured this was as close as it would get to 'healed'. It would never leave his skin.

Ash tore his eyes back to the classroom door. As cautiously as he could, he crept up to the metal doorway and opened it a crack.

A thorough look through the crack indicated that nobody was in the room. Ash dared to open the door a little further, but suddenly a shadow passed over him.

With a shocked gasp, Ash whirled around...

But nobody was there.

Ash tensed up. Were the shadows just playing tricks with him? Or was he really going insane? He didn't want to think he was, but with all that was happening...

Ash looked into the room again. Nobody was inside. Not wanting to wait any more, Ash ducked inside.

The classroom doesn't look like any classroom Ash had ever seen. There were no rows of desks or bookshelves or even a blackboard. There was only one chair, which looked like an electric chair with all it's restraints and chains. It was placed in front of a white wall...a projector screen. Behind the chair was a small film projector propped up on three metal legs.

And at the far end of the room was a small desk with several pieces of paper on it.

Ash went over to the desk. If the next page of this story was in this room, it would be on the desk. Crossing the room, he took the sheets of paper in hand.

A requisition form for rulers, a memo detailing how to fix the projector, and a scrap of paper with messy writing. The first page of the story!

Before Ash could read it though, he heard a dull click behind him. The boy spun around to find that the door had shut on him. But nobody was nearby...but it couldn't have been the wind...

Not wanting to stick around, Ash sped over to the door and tried to open it. But it wouldn't budge. Ash silently gasped. Did it lock?! Ash thought about banging for a second, but then remembered where he was. This was not good...

And then, behind him he heard the whirring of a projector. There was no doubt now. Someone was in the room with him! A terrified Ash could barely force himself to turn around to see the other person, as the projector began to drone.

_"In the beginning,"_ Marge's recorded voice started, _"People had nothing. Their bodies ached, and their hearts were filled with nothing but hatred."_

Adrian's lesson...

Ash finally managed to look at the man who turned the projector on.

He wasn't one of the cultists- at least, he wasn't wearing the cultist's robes and masks. He was wearing a blue overcoat and jeans, slightly splattered with blood. The man had long brown hair, a light unkempt beard, and eyes that were somehow laid-back and intense at the same time.

Those eyes looked straight at Ash.

_"They fought endlessly, but death never came. They despaired, stuck in the eternal quagmire."_

Before Ash could scream or question, the man in the blue coat put a finger to his lips. He then pointed to the projector screen.

_Listen. This is important._

Ash shivered. That was the voice he'd heard...it still seemed like he wasn't really hearing it, but it was definitely...

Not sure what else to do, he looked at the screen while still keeping a nervous eye on the man. He did not like this, but he didn't have much choice in the matter. The image on the screen was an old painting, depicting a mysterious woman in a red dress, surrounded by people bowing in reverance.

_"A man offered a serpent to the sun and prayed for salvation. A woman offered a reed to the sun and asked for joy. Feeling pity for the sadness that had overrun the earth, God was born from those two people._

_God made time and divided it into day and night. God outlined the road to salvation and gave people joy. And God took endless time away from the people. God created beings to lead people in obedience to her._

_The red God, Xuchilbara."_

For some reason, that name sent a shiver down Ash's spine. Why? He'd never heard it before.

_"The yellow God Lobsel Vith. Many Gods and Angels. Finally, God set out to create paradise, Where people would be happy just by being there."_

The image changed. The same red woman was lying on a bed, apparently dead.

_"But there God's strength ran out and she collapsed. All the world's people grieved this unfortunate event..."_

* * *

"'...Yet God breathed her last. She returned to the dust promising to come again. So God hasn't been lost, We must offer her prayers and not forget our faith. We wait in hope for the day when the path to paradise will be opened.'"

Mary finished her whispered recitation to Dawn. "That's the big lesson. Don't let them know I told you. Just remember it after they tell you. It won't be so bad then."

Dawn gulped. "Ok...b-but what about my Pokemon? What about my..."

"Don't talk about them!" Mary suddenly hissed. "Not to Marge. But...if you're really good, Anita might let you see them. Marge doesn't like it."

"Why?"

* * *

The projector in the booth was still whirring away, after that last line. Apparently the lesson wasn't finished.

The image showed...Ash blinked. Was that Satos? No, he didn't have glasses. He was holding some kind of pendant around a girls neck. Alessa, Ash recognized. Next to him were...a man with a beard and baseball cap that kinda resembled Ash (actually, wasn't that the same outfit he'd met Alyx in?), another old man with a grizzled face, and a sneering man with blond hair and glasses. The artist had tried to make them look evil, but she didn't really succeed.

_"Many years later, a group of pagans, blinded by earthly desires, spit in the very face of God. They tried to use the Seal of Metatron to prevent God's awakening. But God drove the unbelievers away, and threw them into the abyss. But due to their...wickedness, God was unable to be born properly._

_She was corrupted by the pagan's influences, and as a result, at the time of the awakening, she could not create paradise. Instead, she created the world we know, a world filled with wickedness and lies."_

Ash could hear the disgust in Marge's voice as she continued. The projector showed a shadowy image of several dangerous looking Pokemon and blindfolded humans.

_"A world filled with false beasts, abominations that are against our God. A world of false promises, of hollow rewards and treacherous people."_

Ash nearly laughed out loud. The cult that was clearly from Silent Hill, thought _Pokemon _were abominations?! This was unbelievable!

_"We must stand strong against these lies, and prepare for the day when God can be brought back, and Paradise can finally be! We must strengthen the Order, no matter the cost. The Order is the only truth! Only we who hearken to the voice if God will be given the keys to paradise!"_

The lesson ended there, but it wasn't clear whether Marge didn't have anything else to say, or if the man had decided to turn the projector off...

Ash turned around to look at the man. He hadn't moved an inch. Ash didn't think he'd even blinked. His eyes...Ash could tell this was a very dangerous man. He could just tell.

"Who...who are you?" Ash finally managed to stammer out.

The man in the blue coat smiled, and Ash noticed flecks of blood in his beard.

_My name is Walter Sullivan._


	12. Chapter 11

Ash didn't move for a second. He just kept staring at the man who'd introduced himself as Walter Sullivan. Why was that name important around here? _Wally...there's many Wally's here..._

"What...what are you doing here? Who-what are you?" He babbled.

Walter silently chuckled. Was he even really there? Ash had the distinct impression he wasn't talking to anyone, even though he was standing right in front of...Ash shook his head clear. That was ridiculous. He just needed to focus. Maybe he was a ghost, but even so...

Walter suddenly answered. _I was an orphan here. I remember this place. I hated this place. It's changed._

Ash blinked. "Changed?"

_Small things inside. The walkway around the building is gone. Nobody can jump into the water. Pity. But it's the world around that has changed most. I don't recognize it at all. Perhaps that's why I stay here._

Ash was confused for a second. Why wouldn't he recognize the world? It didn't look like he was from some ancient civilization or alternate culture... If Ash had to guess, he'd have to Walter lived-or had lived- in a normal, modern city. He didn't look like he'd been dead for more than twenty years.

Wait...Marge had described a world that didn't have any of the...'abominations' she called them, but did she mean Pokemon? Was there a world that was before this one? How...?

Ash shook his head. Why was he dwelling on history when he had to get out of here? He couldn't shake the fear that Walter would kill him if he said the wrong thing or stayed too long. There was something in his aura...something in way he looked at him...

As quietly as he could, Ash began backing towards the door. If Walter had noticed his attempt to flee, he didn't show it. He just kept watching and smiling that detached half-smile of his.

Ash finally got close enough to the door to grab the handle. To his relief, the handle turned. The door was unlocked! Without hesitation, Ash whirled around and opened the door, bolting through in a second.

But when he turned around, intending to slam the door behind him, Walter was gone. He hadn't slipped out, or hid in a shadow somewhere. One second, he'd been sitting next to the projector, and the next he simply...wasn't.

Ash shivered uncontrollably. If Walter wasn't here, he could be anywhere. He knew it was Walter watching him. Was he just toying with him? Ash couldn't shake the sensation of eyes boring into his back. He needed to get out of here. At least now he had the first page...

Ash glanced down at the paper in his hands. There were two pictures, one on each side. The first side had a stick figure king sitting on his throne, and the other side depicted what looked like knights attacking the glutton.

_Once upon a time, there was a monster living at the gates of a village. It was a very scary and a very bad monster. It would catch people and crunch them up with its big teeth._

_The villagers were afraid of the monster, and no one would dare approach the gates. Everyone was stuck inside the village._

_When the king heard about this, he summoned his knights. The knights eagerly rode out to defeat the monster._

_Their swords slashed and their spears flashed, but the monster wouldn't die. The monster tossed the knights into his mouth one by one, horses and all._

_What was the king to do? He fretted and fussed and paced the floor, but could think of no solution._

_Soon after, the village priestess came to the castle. She was a very kind and good person. The king asked her to defeat the monster guarding the gates._

Ash sighed. That wasn't particularly helpful. But this was only the first page. At least he knew attacking the creature with brute force would be fruitless. He needed to keep looking...

Suddenly, he heard a shuffle of feet coming up to him. Terrified that one of the Cultists had caught up to him, he whirled around...

And nearly retched at the sight before him.

It looked human...kind of. The shambling legs were twisted into an unusual position, but they were vaguely human. But the monster walking up to him wasn't human.

It looked like the creatures pale skin had been stretched, twisted, and warped into something resembling a straight jacket. The arms were bound, and what looked like hands were strapped...sewn...fused onto where the monsters eyes would've been. A mouth full of rotten teeth screamed in silent agony.

The straight jacket monster kept shuffling forward, snarling hoarsely. Ash backed away a few steps, not wanting to get closer to this...thing. One of Silent Hill's monsters. A real abomination.

The creature's head reared back, causing it to bend over backwards. Suddenly it reared right back up, thrusting something out of it's mouth right onto Ash.

Ash felt a slimy, disgusting substance splatter all over his jacket. For a second, he was just irritated. Did that thing just puke on him? But then he heard the sizzling noise, and looked down to see his jacket disintegrating.

Acid!

Realizing it would only be seconds before the acid got to his skin, Ash tore off the jacket and flung it aside. The fabric was quickly reduced to a rag full of holes.

Ash didn't have time to breathe before the monster leapt onto him. Suddenly, the creature's legs were around his waist, and the acid-filled mouth was right in front of his face. Ash screamed as he saw the acid building up in the monster's mouth, too close for him to avoid it...

He tried to force it off, grabbing the creature's head and forcing it upwards. The acid spewed out onto the metal ceiling, enveloping a pipe in the corrosive bile.

As the pipe metal began to rust above him, Ash redoubled his efforts to escape. One hand began punching the monster in the 'head', while the other worked to get his legs off.

"GET OFF ME!" Ash yelled as the straight jacket monster began to thrash about wildly. The struggle nearly forced Ash into a wall, but Ash turned around and slammed the creature into the metal. It screamed, but the grip didn't loosen. Ash could see the bile entering it's mouth again.

Ash grabbed the monster's head and hit it against the wall. Every time the creature was hit, the grip around the boy's waist loosened. So Ash kept smashing it against the wall.

Eventually, the wrap loosened enough for Ash to rip himself out of the monster's grasp. Without hesitation, Ash thrust the monster into the wall once more and started running down the hallway...

And skidded to a halt.

There were MORE of those things. From where he was standing, he could see at least three more stumbling through the hallway. He'd barely survived one of them, he couldn't take on four! He needed his Pokemon, he needed a weapon, he needed isomething/i!

He had nothing.

All he could do was run.

If Ash had looked behind him as he bolted down the hallway, he would've seen the acid finally eating through the ceiling pipe. He would've heard a loud whistling coming through the hole, a high-pitched hiss as the gas in the pipe escaped.

He would've seen Walter's apparition staring at the pipe, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

_Hmm…_


	13. Chapter 12

Jessie woke up with a start. She had been having a bad dream where her hair had been set on fire, devoured by a Totidile, and sniffed by some incredibly creepy weirdo. All at once. She wasn't sure how it was possible, but dreams were never particularly logical.

She blinked and saw the sun. It was fairly high in the sky. How long had they been sleeping? She whirled around to see James and Meowth fitfully snoozing.

"Wake up, you idiots!" She yelled, getting them to rise to the occasion posthaste. "We overslept! The twerps could be gone by now!"

That thought terrified James. "Oh no! We'll be tramping through the woods for hours again!"

"And it'll be YOUR fault! You just HAD to fall asleep on the job!"

"Jess, can it!" Meowth suddenly hissed. "Someone could hear us! Besides, 'ow do ya know they're gone?"

Jessie opened her mouth, but realized she didn't have an answer. The trio sat in awkward silence for a second before James piped up.

"Should we check to see if they're still in the building?"

Jessie shook her head. "No. Then they'll know we're here."

"We got disguises..."

Jessie blinked. "You packed disguises in that backpack?"

James shrugged, motioning towards his large knapsack. "You kept telling me to carry everything we could possibly need. I also packed fake Pokeballs and extra rations, and these prototype jet packs that new guy built..."

"Wait, we've got jet packs?! Why didn't you say nothing?!" Meowth demanded.

"I dunno if they're safe...I mean, it won't be like all the other times we were sent flying..."

"We'll talk about that later." Jessie interrupted her partner. "Right now, we gotta find the twerp trio and grab their Pokemon before they leave!"

"But what if the twoips leave while we're looking for 'em?" Meowth asked.

"Good point." Jessie reluctantly admitted.

On seeing his partner's rather downcast face, Meowth smiled. "We know where their Pokemon are. The bunkhouse." He pointed to the small building. "Let's wait till the coast is clear, den we go in and snatch 'em."

"And if they aren't there?"

"We don't waste a lot of time lookin'."

Jessie and James glanced at each other, eventually admitting that this was a good plan. At least, better than any plan they could come with right now. They turned their eyes to the bunkhouse, carefully watching for any eyes.

They saw the blonde-haired woman staring harshly at the bunkhouse through the window, so they couldn't go there with her watching. All they could do was wait. Luckily, from where they were sitting, Marge couldn't see them. The woods were surprisingly shady, keeping whatever was inside well hidden.

For some reason, the expression on Marge's face sent a shiver through Meowth's spine...

* * *

Ash was running out of energy. He didn't know how much longer he could keep going. He wanted to slow down, but those things wouldn't let him. As he ran through the metal hallways, sidestepping the acid attacks of the straight jacket monsters, Ash had a realization.

He HATED all of this.

He hated running. He hated hiding. He hated not being able to do anything. He hated not being able to fight. He hated being helpless. He hated watching as Alessa killed Dakos. He hated watching Pyramid head butcher Herlim. He hated not being able to save Adrian. He hated the fact that in all those instances, he was unable to make any difference.

But what could he do? He was just a scared kid, he couldn't fight them on his own, not without his Pokemon. The only reason he escaped the Missionary was because he got lucky. He only evaded the cultists because they'd gotten distracted. He only escaped the straight jacket creature by the skin of his teeth. He couldn't fight, he didn't have any weapons, and he didn't have his friends for support.

Unless he got out fast, there was nothing he could do.

So he kept running. Every time he thought he could stop, another straight jacket appeared. Why were there suddenly so many of these things? They were coming out of random doorways, stumbling into his path and forcing him to go down another unrecognizable hall.

It was almost like they were herding him. But where?

And for that matter, what had happened to the cultists? Ash would've thought they were still in the building. Maybe they were hiding in one of the rooms...or maybe those things had killed them. But then why didn't he see any if their corpses?

Or did the cultists...get...

No. Even if they could somehow survive having their skin twisted like that, they wouldn't be able to spit acid. Those things might have looked vaguely human, but they were never real people. They were monsters.

Ash sidestepped another Straightjacket that burst out in front of him. How many if these things were there? Another blast of acid nearly took his head off, and Ash turned the corner...

Only to find something worse than the army of straight jackets. He was back by the exit, where the Glutton was still guarding the door. But it wasn't the only monster there.

Screaming obscenities and trying to pull his switchblade out of the beast's maw was the Missionary.

The torturer in the bag mask had thrust his knife into the Glutton's body, trying to kill it in a fit of rage. But instead of being wounded, the creature seemed almost delighted, and was now in the process if consuming the blade. The weapon sunk deeper and deeper into the creature's flesh, despite the Missionary's best attempts to pull it back out. It was a tug-o-war between two abominations.

Eventually, the Glutton won. The Missionary's blade slipped out of his gloves and into the mouth of the hanging beast. The switchblade vanished and the Missionary roared with frustration, almost like a little kid with his favorite toy taken away.

Then the bag twisted in Ash's direction.

Ash spun around and ran, trying to get away from the sadist he'd only just escaped a few minutes ago. He ran and ran, but he wasn't fast enough.

Before he could turn around, the boy was forced to the cold floor. His head spun after being bashed into the metal, so he couldn't resist being forced back up to his feet. Two bloody gloves pinned his arms to his side as a furious voice snarled in his ear.

"I've been having a VERY frustrating day, you little bastard." The Missionary threatened, a disturbing undertone of glee in his cruel voice. "But YOU are going to cheer. Me. Up."

A blow to the back of the head, and darkness overtook Ash once again.


	14. Chapter 13

The searing pain woke Ash up. A thousand red-hot needles were being driven into his flesh. He tried to scream, but his mouth was held shut. He thrashed around, but it only made the pain worse. He couldn't escape. And then he opened his eyes.

The Missionary had stripped him and tied him to some kind of iron chair. His hands were strapped to armrests covered in spikes, sharp enough to dig into his skin but not enough to draw blood. These spikes were everywhere on the chair, burrowing into his back and legs like a million tiny red-hot teeth. There was no relief. He could move so that the spikes in his back weren't pressing so hard, but that made his arms and legs burn even worse.

He couldn't scream. He could barely breathe. Something around his neck was keeping his mouth shut. An iron rod held his chin up so he couldn't open his mouth. The best he could do was wince.

"You're not getting out of this one, whoreson."

The Missionary's voice rang in his ears like a clanging bell. The Missionary...Ash tried to turn his head to see him, but the thing around his neck kept him from moving very far.

He could smell something burning. Fire. There was a fire underneath this chair. Around, behind…That was why the spikes were so hot.

Ash resumed his struggling, but it was hopeless. The pain in his arms and legs prevented them from moving enough to break the bonds. He couldn't open his mouth. He was at the mercy of this monster.

The Missionary finished tinkering with the fire to look at Ash. "Hurts, doesn't it? It's the least you deserve..." He snarled, voice filled with hate.

It did hurt. Ash had never been in so much pain his entire life. This was worse than every wound he suffered in Kalville. This was worse than Pyramid Head's branding poker. This was true pain. And it never seemed to stop.

No one would help him. No one would rescue him. He couldn't even scream. All he could do was cry. But he wouldn't let himself. _No. I won't give this animal the satisfaction. _Ash clamped his eyes shut, biting back the tears.

The Missionary wasn't amused. "Look at me, you bastard." He growled, grabbing Ash's hair and forcibly pulling it back. "LOOK AT ME!"

Ash's eyes opened, and he saw the Missionary. He could feel the deranged monster's eyes behind that mask. Could feel the hatred. Why? Why did he hate him so much? He'd never seen this creep before.

The torturer must've seen the fear in the boy's eyes, because he almost seemed satisfied. He let go and started walking away, going towards this room's tool shelf.

In great pain and barely able to breathe, Ash's vision became blurry and unfocused. But the spikes and the heat kept him from passing out, so his eyes couldn't close.

He heard someone scream for him. On the other end was some kind of hangman's noose, built for something small. Did they...hang children there?

No...he saw someone...him...being wrenched into the air by his arms. Fast and hard. He almost heard the bones in his shoulders break. He saw the Missionary holding the rope, and he saw...Marge? Was she here?

No...she was gone. She wasn't there. The pain came back, bringing Ash back to reality. He was alone with the Missionary. He tried to look somewhere else, focus on anything other than what he was feeling.

Across from the noose was a large, empty box. It was open, big enough to hold Ash's head, with a hole big enough for his neck when it closed.

As if to confirm his thoughts, another vision appeared. It was him, tied to another chair. Marge was placing the box over his head, locking him in darkness.

Someone began speaking, narrating the scene he saw. _"For you see, the world around you blinds you to the truth. You must understand how blinded you have become to accept the Order's light."_

Wait...was that Marge's voice? Or...Walter's? Before Ash could figure it out, the scene faded into nothingness.

Ash couldn't hold back tears for much longer. The heat never let up, and the spikes kept digging deeper and deeper into his skin. It never let up. Never let him rest. Didn't even let him lose consciousness.

And then the Missionary returned. He was holding a knife, one much smaller than the switchblades he was wielding before. For precision work.

The torturer looked at the mark on Ash's hand. The mark of Pyramid Head. "You don't deserve that mark." he hissed.

And then he drove the knife into Ash's hand.

That was the last straw. Tears of pain erupted from Ash's eyes. He couldn't take this anymore.

The knife drew blood, cutting into the back of Ash's palm. It didn't go very deep, mercifully...Missionary was trying to cut the mark off his hand, not slice his hand off. The pain was still excruciating, added on to everything else, but then two very odd things happened.

First, the Missionary suddenly dropped the knife onto the floor, letting out a yelp of pain. What could've possibly hurt him?

And then the fire went out.

"What?" The Missionary demanded, more irritated than anything. He crouched behind Ash's chair, and the boy could hear a frustrated clicking noise.

Ash tried to breathe. Even a little relief from the pain was wonderful. The spikes, while still painful, were no longer searing his skin. A small relief, but relief enough for now.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" The Missionary kicked the chair in frustration, rattling Ash for a second. "What the hell happened to the gas?!"

Then the light above them flickered out. Apparently the power had been cut as well.

The Missionary tensed. This wasn't an accident. Someone else was here! If whoever it was let this wretch escape...

The Missionary stood back up and considered his prisoner. He wasn't finished with this little brat, oh no. But he knew he'd really hurt him. He could see the burns all over Ash's body, and his eyes failing to hold back any tears. That satisfied him a little. Besides, with those burns all over his body, he wasn't going to get anywhere fast.

But he couldn't leave him on the chair. Last time he did that, the prisoner had smashed his wrists against the spikes hard enough to open an artery. He did not want this little wretch to die so soon.

He knew exactly what to do with him.

The Missionary quickly undid the restraints around Ash's arms and legs. The boy would've fought back, but he simply couldn't make his arms and legs move. They hurt too much for him to struggle. He couldn't resist as the Missionary dragged him away from the chair.

"I'm gonna find your friend and bring him here. Then I'm gonna kill him right in front of you, just like I did Adrian. You have no idea what I can do. But in the meantime..."

Ash managed to open his eyes to see that be was being dragged to a hole in the floor, covered by a lid. His arms and legs still screamed with burns, preventing him from moving.

The Missionary lifted the manhole cover, and almost gently dumped Ash into the pit. The fall was short, and the burns prevented Ash from registering hitting the bottom.

"...Stay put." The Butcher chuckled, closing the manhole and putting Ash in complete darkness. Only this time, he wasn't asleep.

For an eternity, Ash just laid there. Every time he so much as shifted, his damaged body protested violently. The slightest movement sent needles of pain throughout his body. He couldn't even sit up right now.

It felt like hours before he could make one arm move to grab the collar that was still around his neck. If he could get rid of that, at the very least...

His quivering, almost numb hand could barely find the mechanism that undid the collar. When it did, it couldn't grasp it. Almost all feeling was gone, and it was only gradually coming back.

Finally, the device clicked and fell off his neck. Finally able to open his mouth, Ash spent a minute or two simply breathing in previous oxygen.

Then he let out a scream that had been building up inside him for a long time.

No one heard him.


	15. Chapter 14

Ash's body was stuck in some sort of limbo between being numb and being in absolute agony. He could barely sit up, much less climb out. His hands shivered too much for him to grab anything with any real grip, and his legs were too...too...Ash couldn't name what he was feeling. Tired? Pained? Burnt? Numb? Weak? It was all and none of those things.

Escape was out of the question right now, with the lid closed on his little prison. He strained his eyes, but he couldn't make out anything in the blackness. Despite his burnt, wounded hands, he could vaguely feel desperate scrawlings on the wall. Otherwise, it was too smooth to climb up.

Wait...Ash felt an indentation. One big enough for his hand. A little exploration found another one, a bit higher. So there was a way he could climb up...

But it was moot. Ash wasn't one to give up easily, but he knew he was in no condition to climb. He could barely grab the handhold or bring himself up to his feet. And even if he forced himself to the top, he wouldn't be able to budge the cover on the manhole.

Still...Ash tried to use the handholds to bring himself up. If nothing else, he could stand up and get circulation going through his legs again. Wincing, he placed his fingers on the highest one he could reach and forced himself up.

He nearly collapsed into the wall again. The second he stood upright the pain forced a gasp from his mouth. It nearly made him hurl. He wanted desperately to sit down again, to relieve his hurting muscles, but he kept himself upright. If he collapsed again, he might not be able to bring himself back up.

Circulation was beginning to be restored to his legs, slowly. Painfully. But it was getting better. Slowly. A little. If he just waited a little more...

Jessie was getting tired of waiting. What was taking so long? Why was that blonde woman still staring at the bunkhouse? She had been watching for almost an hour now. What, did she think she could make the bunkhouse explode if she stared at it hard enough?

Leaving Meowth on lookout, Jessie turned her attention to supplies. As much as James had complained about carrying so much, they were fortunate to have all these supplies. Empty Pokeballs, more than enough to impersonate all the twerp's Pokemon. Ninja shoes to disguise their footsteps. A lockpick that could easily bypass the padlock on the door. And a fake Pikachu doll that was actually quite convincing.

They had everything they needed to pull off this heist. Now they just needed a stroke of luck...

"She's gone!" Meowth suddenly hissed. "Nobody's lookin'! Let's go!"

Jessie and James nodded and grabbed their supplies. Not wasting a second, they darted towards the bunkhouse where their spoils awaited. This was going to be easy.

Brock felt utterly worthless. He was supposed to be watching over Ash and Dawn, but he'd let them get caught up in this. And now he couldn't do anything to help either of them. No matter what he did, he couldn't bust out of the room. Nobody heard him when he yelled (He'd waited until the two woman had left) and he couldn't detect any sort of door anywhere in the room. How was that possible?

He heard footsteps again, the kind high heels made. Nervously, he peered through the crack in the hall. Anita had returned to her room. He didn't dare make a sound now...if Anita heard him, she could shove him into another room, worse than this one. All he had right now was his ability to eavesdrop on these lunatics. Maybe he could figure something out that way...hopefully.

Anita was dialling an old-fashioned phone. Repeatedly. Whoever she was calling, they weren't picking up. She was on her third try when Marge barged into the room.

"Anita, we need to talk." She demanded.

Anita just sighed. "Can it wait? I can't reach anyone at the water tower."

"They must be busy with Adrian and that _Pikachu's_ owner." Marge spat out the word 'Pikachu' like acid. Brock froze. That was Ash! So he was at this 'water tower'? Brock prayed he was okay.

"Even so..."

Marge was not the patient sort. "Anita, we need to discuss this **now**!"

Anita gave up. "What is it, Marge?"

"Those things in the bunkhouse! I can't keep quiet about this anymore! How can we teach the children the truth when we're using those false creatures as incentives!"

_Those things in the bunkhouse?_ Brock realized. _Our Pokemon!_

Anita gave an exasperated sigh. She'd been expecting this. "Marge, the important thing is that we get them to listen to us."

"But it undermines everything! Those creatures are the epitome of everything wrong with this world. We can't let them corrupt the children!" Marge was only getting more agitated as she kept talking.

However, Anita's voice was just as calm and soothing as it always was. "Do you remember how much trouble we had with our first children? You nearly broke the dears in two! Once they see the truth..."

"You don't get it, do you? As long as they're there, as long as they're a reward, they are a temptation! It'll undo everything we've set out to do! We can't let those monsters live another second!"

Brock held back a gasp. Was Marge proposing to...oh no...

"I'm not risking everything we're doing just to make things a little easier. Do you understand me?!" Marge finally shouted before turning around. Anita tried to stop her, but she had already stormed out of the room.

Brock crumpled to the floor. This was bad. Really bad. Ash was being held somewhere else, he still didn't know if Dawn was still alive, and now the Pokemon were in trouble...he should've realized something was up when he got here...he had to do something!

**"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!" **he shouted.

"What?!"

Brock knew he couldn't escape from this room. He didn't need to hear anything else from those maniacs. But if Anita knew he had been eavesdropping, she might try to move him and he could escape! It was a long shot, but it was the best chance he had.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!"

"Fudge." Anita muttered before walking out of the room.

It was a few moments before Brock heard something open. The door! Brock charged towards the sound, hoping to blast past Anita and get out...

But he was brought down by two strong men. As much as he fought, he couldn't break free of their grip. So much for that escape plan.

In the dim light entering the room, he could see Anita, that sickly sweet smile on her face. "Dear, dear. Eavesdropping isn't something good little boys do."

"You're sick." Brock snarled out.

Anita just shook her head. "It's always hard at first, but you'll be thanking me later." She spoke to the helpers. "Knock him out. I don't want him disturbing my children."

"Your chil-" Brock almost yelled before a blow to the back if his head send darkness swirling into his mind.

Without missing a beat, Anita addressed the two helpers keeping Brock subdued. "Oh, and patch up that wall. This place is getting old quicker than I thought."


	16. Chapter 15

Ash had all but passed out on his feet when something icy splashed across his face. Waking up, he looked up to see that the hatch to his prison was open.

He also saw that water was being poured into the pit. Several biting waterfalls cascaded onto his burnt body, filling up the pit. He could almost feel the water around his burnt ankles.

He doubted he could swim to the top once the pit filled. He'd have to climb or drown.

Even with the rest he had gotten, putting one foot and one hand above the other was a difficult task. When he pulled himself up, his muscles all screamed for him to stop, give up. But with the ice water filling up around him, he couldn't stop for a second.

The water kept splashing into his face, hurting his eyes and forcing him to clamp them shut. As he blindly groped for each new foothold, the water came higher and higher.

_Come on...almost there...a little higher..._

His fingers soon found the edge of the hole. The exit. Just in time, too...the water was coming up around his head at this point.

With an excruciating force of effort, he hoisted himself up over and out of the hole. Gasping for breath, he collapsed onto the floor. He was finally free of that prison. But who freed him?

That question was answered quickly. _Now you understand that while it is difficult to climb free of the world's darkness,_ that voice that was Walter and Marge's...no, it was Walter doing a mockery if Marge..._it is something that must be done to appreciate the truth of the Order._

Rage overcame Ash's pain. As quickly as he could manage, he got himself back onto his feet and took a swing at the figure in the bloody coat, standing over him, mocking him...

Only to connect with nothing.

Simply moving his arm caused the burns to scream again, and Ash stopped himself and tried to get his bearings back.

He was alone...as alone as he could be with Walter's ghost hovering around the area. He could never feel alone here. But at least the missionary was gone. It was just him among the torture tools.

Eventually, he found his clothes, hanging on a makeshift rack. As he tried to move, he realized he couldn't move very fast at all. The iron chair had done its work. He could only walk slowly in any one direction.

If the Missionary or any monsters came in, he would never outrun them.

He had to keep moving. Maybe once he was dressed again, he could think of something...

-

Team Rocket had gotten a lot better at sneaking around over the years. They could walk without making any noise, and were wary enough to watch for any prying eyes.

The trio quickly scuttled over to the bunkhouse, carrying all the supplies they needed. The door of the bunkhouse faced away from the orphanage, so they could enter and exit without anyone seeing from the building.

Still, they had to be careful. Meowth was appointed as lookout, watching the orphanage for any threats. Meanwhile, Jessie and James picked the lock and opened the door.

What they saw caught them off guard for a second. Pikachu was in a small cage, sleeping off a bad bump. It had knocked itself out banging against the cage walls. Ash would never have allowed this.

There were more Pokeballs than Team Rocket had expected there as well. The twerps all together couldn't carry this many Pokemon. Was the orphanage storing all the children's Pokemon in this tiny building?

And why was there a huge metal oven in here?

Although they couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss here, they decided to not question providence at the moment. They quickly grabbed the Pokeballs off the shelves, replacing them with the fakes. With a little handiwork, they opened the cage and took the still-sleeping Pikachu out. A rubber containment sphere was used to hold the creature while the lifelike duplicate was put in the cage.

James couldn't keep quiet. "Something's wrong here, Jess."

Jessie would've snapped at James to be quiet, but she had to agree. "I know, but-"

"Guys!" Meowth hissed. "She's comin' back!"

Marge slammed the door behind her as she left the building. Why couldn't Anita see the danger? She was either in denial or just lazy. Well, no matter. She'd just deal with this herself. Right now.

If Marge hadn't been so focused on the bunkhouse itself, she might've heard the bushes rustle or the door quietly close. But she didn't, and if she did she just passed it off as the wind. No. She had a job to do, and damned if she was going to let anything distract her.

Storming into the bunkhouse, she glanced at the rows of Pokeballs on the shelves. She wanted to retch. A world of glorified violence and cruelty, it's only purpose to waste time and distract from the truth. These false creatures, made to turn humanity away from the true god.

She shuddered to think what would happen to the children.

So she didn't hesitate. Starting up the furnace, which had once been used as a crematorium, she stoked the fire until it was a powerful blaze. As soon as it was ready, she began feeding it the Pokeballs.

One by one, the racks were fed to the blaze. The Pokemon that the 'orphans' had on them when they had arrived at the place. The creatures Anita had used as incentives. They were all destroyed.

Anita finished by chucking the yellow rat into the blaze. Not wanting to hold it for longer than she had to, she threw it away as fast as she could. Once she did, she stepped back to admire the blaze. A satisfied smile crossed her face...

Wait, were there supposed to be shadows there? Was someone at the window?

Marge whirled around, but there was no-one there. Not convinced that someone hadn't been watching her, she opened the door and looked around.

Nothing.

She shook her head. She was being paranoid. This place was too far off the beaten path for any trainers to stumble upon it. She was just nervous. Maybe a cup of Anita's tea would calm her nerves.

As she walked away, she missed the sound of three thieves retching in the bushes.

-

Ash was finally dressed. The fabric cushioned his burnt body a little, but not enough. He could move, but not very fast. He couldn't run, and he certainly couldn't fight.

With that in mind, he forced himself to move. There was nowhere to hide in this torture chamber, and there weren't any more pages to read. There was nothing here but fear and pain. So he walked to another door. The only door he saw that was ajar-he doubted he could wrestle with those huge locks in the state he was in.

With nowhere else to go, he tried to push the door open. But his arms gave out before he could budge it more than an inch. Forced to catch his breath again, he tried pushing the door with his entire body. He nearly passed out from the effort, but he finally got himself inside the next room. Everything spun as he stepped past the door, and he suddenly collapsed to his knees.

When he looked up again, he immediately regretted coming into this room.


	17. Chapter 16

**Read and review, please! I need feedback in this story! I'm thinking of enacting a new rule: no new chapters until I get some more reviews.**

The torture room had been filled with violence and fear, but this place...Ash couldn't really describe it. There was something worse here, a feeling of utter dread and disgust. It hung in the air like a thick fog. There were no obvious tools of torture, no racks or iron chairs or blades. Just chains hanging from the ceiling, dangling like jellyfish tentacles waiting to ensnare. Ash didn't want to touch them.

But it was the countless arcane symbols splattered all over the room that gave the room a terrible feel. Ash recognized the one on the floor. The symbol Pyramid Head had branded on him. It seemed to be the one most prominent.

There were paintings hanging in a concentric order on the walls. Ash recognized them from Marge's lecture, telling the history of the Order. The last one was the same picture he'd seen on the altar where Alessa had been resurrected. Underneath was a table with documents.

Realizing that one of those documents might be the next page of the story, Ash hobbled forward to the table. He ducked to avoid the chains, not wanting to touch the horrible things.

He finally got there, and started looking. The first document caught his eye, even though it wasn't the story.

_Another potential has failed. I don't understand. We're following the protocol set by mother Dahlia to the letter. Why isn't it working? These rites almost brought us salvation long ago, why not now? At this rate, we'll use up all the girls within a month._

Ash quickly threw the page aside. But the next memo he read didn't make him feel better at all.

_As our teachings tell, God must be born amid the suffering she is to cease. If God cannot understand suffering, how is she to save us? We must do this right this time. Another trainer from the orphanage has been chosen..._

Ash didn't want to read what was next.

_The mother and daughter of god must be reborn!_

Ash blinked. Mother and daughter of God? Where had he heard that before?

Back in Kalville, in the flashback at the antique store._ Alessa, mother and daughter of God..._

A winter's worth of ice went down Ash's back as he realized what this room was for. What the 'rites' were. What the Order was trying to do.

They were trying to recreate Alessa.

Not resurrect, like Dakos had done. Recreate. With the girls they abducted with the Orphanage. They must have been doing this for a long time. The thought made Ash's stomach churn violently. All this, just to make another Alessa?

Then something else hit him. It was pretty obvious, really. In fact, he'd figured it out in the back of his head a long time ago. But it hadn't truly sunk in until now.

Alessa had gone through this. This explained an awful lot.

A clanking noise snapped Ash out if his reverie. It took a second of terror to realize it was just a pipe opening somewhere else. But he still had to get going.

Luckily, the page he turned to was another storybook.

_The priestess accepted the king's request and went to the village gates.  
But when she saw the monster, she tried to convince it with words instead of killing it._

"Shut up, you! I'm going to eat you up!" The monster didn't listen to a word the priestess said.

But she kept trying to convince the monster to give up. "It's wrong to eat people, you know."

The monster grew very angry at this and attacked her, killing her with a single mighty blow.

Ash blinked, disbelieving. That's it?! That was the end if the story? The girl dies? There's no way to kill the Glutton? He turned the page over, reread the thing upside down, but there was nothing more. He looked through the rest of the documents, reading about every sordid detail that happened in the vain hope that there was a hidden message somewhere.

Nothing.

Ash fell to the floor. The end. There was nothing more to do. He was going to die in here. What was the point in running around, hiding where there was nowhere to go, noting to do.

All that fear, all that misery, all that pain, for nothing. He started sobbing in hopelessness, alone and frightened. A pathetic, helpless little boy.

A familiar hissing noise interrupted his misery. Fear replacing his sorrow, he jolted up to see more of the Straightjacket monsters coming towards him. They hobbled forward, snarling with acid dripping from their mouths.

Adrenaline got Ash back to his feet. He might not have anything left, but he wasn't going to be killed by these things! But the escape route was blocked. Where could he go?

_Over here._

Ash turned to where the whisper had come from. To his surprise, he saw a hole in the wall, just big enough for him to crawl through. The only way out.

The boy tried to run, but adrenaline could only do so much. His wounds kept him from going very fast, and he could tell from the sounds behind him that one of the monsters was gaining on him.

A splatter of acid landed next to his foot. He willed himself to go faster, but he couldn't tell if it worked.

One of those things was almost in top of him, roaring at his shoulder. His fist hit the monsters jaw, forcing it back. But the second he did, he lost all feeling in that hand. Another punch was out of the question.

He finally reached the hole. Now that he was closer, he saw that it was a tunnel. A long tunnel leading to a bright light.

Wherever it was, it had to be safer than here, where another Straightjacket was coming too close. An acid spray dissolved a patch on the wall, and Ash hurriedly climbed inside.

One of the monsters roared behind him, and Ash kicked it back. That foot lost all feeling as well, and Ash had to crawl through the tunnel on one functioning hand and foot.

He managed to get a fair distance before he dared to turn around. To his surprise, he saw the straightjackets as little more than dots in a smaller dot, the hole far away. How could he have gotten there so fast?

Another thing hit him. These things only appeared when he had stopped moving, when he wasn't sure where to go. They'd driven him into the Missionary, and now here. Were they herding him?

Ash sighed and continued down the tunnel, praying that something slightly better was on the other side.


	18. Chapter 17

Now that the eavesdropping brat had been moved to a more secure room, Anita was making herself busy looking through the belongings of the new arrivals. Their backpacks were turned upside down and scattered over the floor as she searched for anything that could be used to track or identify them. Their orphanage was well out of the way, but they couldn't be too careful. Cell phones, pokegear, photos and licenses had to be destroyed quickly.

That was the way they had done things for the last few years, and it had worked. Brock's boast that they wouldn't get away with this was hollow, as they hadn't had a single real threat to their operation in years...

_Ding Dong!_

Anita froze. Who just rang the doorbell? Nobody came around here. This place was too far off the beaten path for regular visitors. The head of the orphanage calmed herself down, put on her best smile and went to the door. She'd have to see who it was before she decided what to do...

The second she opened the door, two VERY well dressed individuals blew right in. Anita couldn't stop the couple from coming right inside.

"Good morning!" The man with a large monocle, larger moustache and two-tone tuxedo introduced himself as "Jarrod Raymond Morgan IV at your service, and this is my _lovely_ wife, Jessalina Sydney Morgan III."

"A dee-_vine_ pleasure to meet you." Jessalina had the thickest southern accent Anita had ever heard, and the largest hat she had ever seen. Her dress was large and thick, barely fitting through the doors.

Anita smiled. "The pleasure is all mine. I'm Anita Royce, I run this orphanage-"

"SPLENDID!" Jarrod exclaimed, startling Anita. "This is just what we're looking for! I TOLD you this was the place to go!"

Jessalina laughed and pinched Jarrod's cheek. "Oh dah-_ling_, I KNEW I could count on you!"

Anita blinked. "I'm sorry, what-?"

Before she could finish the question, Jarrod came right up to her. "Oh, I am so sorry! I should explain. Ahem..."

The man promptly struck a dramatic pose, and Anita could swear that she saw a spotlight go on him. "My beloved wife and I, we have been blessed in all things. We own one of the greatest Pokenip plantations this side of Hoenn, and we are _incredibly_ wealthy."

His voice became choked with emotion. "But alas, due to an unfortunate twist of cruel fate, my dearest cannot bear a child. Our home is barren, our lives empty, without the joys of children!"

Jessalina chimed in. "So we came here, hoping that you would have a child for us to take home, love, nourish and spoil. We simply must have a child! I pray that you understand."

Anita nodded, but there was something very fishy about this. "Of course, but..."

Jarrod suddenly presented a thick black briefcase. "You understand, don't you? Our pain and sorrow is so great, we will pay any price." He promptly opened the case to present a large sum of Pokedollar bills.

The sight of the money gave Anita pause. After their financier had embezzled their funds for his own project, the Order was not doing well financially. They needed more money and more members, or they would not survive very long.

However, Anita shook her head clear. Something isn't right..."Oh, I'm terribly sorry about this, but I'm afraid we can't give you any-"

"**WHAT?!**" Jessalina roared, her furious expression making Anita recoil in fright. "Why not?! Isn't this an orphanage?!"

"This is an outrage! An orphanage that refuses to let their children be adopted!" Jarrod snorted. "How utterly contemptible. Truly reprehensible!"

Anita was becoming very nervous now. She wanted to call for her helpers, but these two weren't letting her get a word in edgewise.

"We'll have to inform the SAA!"

Anita blinked. "The...the SAA?"

"The Sinnoh Adoption Agency!" Jarrod declared. "Surely THEY will have something to say about this!"

"And the Humane Society!" Jessalina added.

"The Mothers for Ethical treatment of children!"

"The MAGG!"

"And the police!"

Anita was panicking at this point. There was nothing stopping these two from walking out and threatening the secrecy of the operation. She had to get things under control, fast.

"WAIT!" She yelled, finally silencing the duo for a critical second. Taking a deep breath, she put a wide smile on her face. "Perhaps we could discuss this over tea and biscuits. How does that sound?"

Jarrod raised an eyebrow, but eventually nodded. "I...suppose. Do forgive our eagerness, but this is _really_ important for us."

"It's quite alright." Anita dismissed. "There is nothing in the world more beautiful than a child."

Dawn couldn't take it anymore. The darkness, the isolation, the fear, what went through her mind about what her friends and her Pokemon were going through. The walls closed in, the shadows devoured her, even the frail light that kept her sane looked ready to flicker out...

She screamed and hit one of the walls. Maybe if she hit hard enough, she could break it! But it didn't break. So she hit it again.

Her scream went unheard, but someone picked up the vibrations. Hidden under the voluminous folds of 'Jessalina's' dress, Meowth felt the wall vibrate. He sniffed the air. He recognized the scent, faint though it was. One of the twerps!

The Pokemon poked Jessie's leg (which still had her boot on it) twice, the signal to stop moving. Jessie felt it and interrupted the groups journey to the kitchen.

"Ah do have a question, Anita." Jessalina remarked. "Howevah do you keep this place so neat and tidy?"

Anita answered with her never-fading smile, something that was really creeping Jarrod out now. "Good old fashioned know-how. And a little help."

"What kind o'help?"

"Some of the older dears help around the place, when they're good and ready." Anita explained. "Why don't I introduce them to you?"

Meowth, hidden from Anita's view, was tapping the wall with his paw as quietly as he could. From the way it echoed, he could tell the wall was hollow. But it was too thin to be just a regular wall.

Guessing that an operation like this would have secret doors and the like, Meowth began searching for something that looked like a button or switch.

Just then, Marge and two stocky young men came. "Anita, what's..." Marge asked when she saw the two strangers. "...going...on?"

The trio tensed, recognizing the would-be murderer on sight. Seeing her hateful face try to fake a smile was unnerving to say the least. Still, they didn't break character or do anything rash.

Anita winked at Marge. "This lovely couple is hoping to adopt. I was just showing them to the kitchen."

Marge was very suspicious, but she didn't say it. "I...see." She mused, leaning on a nearby end table.

"Now, if you'll please follow me..."

Before Anita could continue, Meowth suddenly discovered the button.

Dawn suddenly came tumbling out into the hall, out of the room she had been locked in. Her sudden appearance caused everyone to freeze for a split second.

Dawn looked up and saw Anita, but before she could scream Jessalina had picked her up in a very big hug. Keeping her face pressed into her shoulder to keep her from speaking up, the woman cheerfully twirled around.

"Oh she's ADORABLE! She's a gem! She's absolutely perfect! We'll take her!"

Anita and Marge were completely thrown for a loop. What had just happened? This was not supposed to happen! Neither of them moved for a critical second. "Wha-?"

Before Anita could get her wits back together, Jarrod shoved the briefcase into her arms. "Thank you! Terribly sorry we can't stay for tea, but we simply MUST be off! Ta-ta!"

Marge glanced over to Anita, panic and fury in her eyes. "Anita..."

"Toodles!" And with that, Jessalina, Jarrod and Dawn bolted down the hallway.

Marge's eye started twitching. "What...just...**happened**?!" She demanded.

A horrible realization struck Anita. She quickly opened the briefcase to find the money she'd been flashed...a perfect imitation plate of money covering a large amount of bottle caps. They'd been tricked!

**"After them!" **Anita screamed, bloodcurdling rage replacing her sugar-sweet tone. She took off after the fake couple, followed by Marge and the two helpers.

At least, they would've followed her if a certain cat hadn't tied Marge's foot to the end table. The second the woman stepped forward, the entire thing came crashing down. The three tripped up on the table, preventing them from giving chase.

Anita ran right to the front door, but when she opened it, she saw nobody. The theives had vanished into the woods. The same woods she counted on to keep the orphanage safe. She couldn't look for them now.

This was terrible. Anita clutched her head with panic. There'd been attempted escapes before, but she could always count on the Missionary's dogs to track them down. But this girl was new, they didn't have her scent. Worse, she hadn't been broken in... If they didn't resolve this fast...

"Fudge." Anita hissed before storming back into the orphanage. She had to try them again.

The trio didn't stop until they reached the base Team Rocket had created. A tiny clearing in the woods where they were keeping all their gear, far enough away so the orphanage couldn't see them, but not so far that they'd lose track of the orphanage.

Dawn was struggling the whole way before Jessie set her down. "Twerp! Calm down! It's us!"

Dawn blinked. "T-Team Rocket?" She couldn't believe that she was happy to see them of all people. Then she realized something. "Wait! Where's Ash and Brock?"

Meowth shook his head. "We don't know. From the looks we was gettin' from that blonde creep, we had t' bolt."

Dawn tried to stand up. "They're in trouble! So's Ann! I gotta get them back!"

Jessie stopped her. "Relax! I got something you can use." Digging into her sack, she produced a satellite phone. "Police won't listen to us, but you can tell them to come here."

Dawn looked at the phone. It seemed like all her problems were gonna be solved. But then something crossed her mind. "Wait...why are you doing this?"

James motioned to the Pokeballs they had bagged. "That blonde psycho almost killed your Pokemon."

"We was lucky to stop by and steal 'em."

"We're evil, but not that evil."

While Dawn didn't like the thought of Team Rocket stealing their Pokemon, she was grateful they had saved them this time. Besides, there was a lot more at stake right now. And now there was a way to stop this.

"Thank you. Now gimme the phone." Dawn asked. "Time to blow that sick place sky high."

Reviews!


	19. Chapter 18

The tunnel seemed to go on forever. The light kept fading in and out of Ash's eyes, making him wonder if this wasn't just another dream. The pain in his body always reminded him he was awake.

Ash got it into his head that if he fell down here, he'd never get up again. He pushed forward, not wanting to die in this tunnel. Gritting his teeth to stay awake, he continued to crawl through the darkness.

The end of the tunnel came as a surprise. He fell out of the hole and onto the floor, his burns screaming on contact with the stone. He was finally out.

But was he safe?

Looking up, he didn't see anyone there. No monsters, no cultists, no Missionary. Slightly relieved, he forced himself back onto his feet.

Swaying unsteadily, he chanced to look back at where he'd come from. The hole was gone. The only thing there was a crimson painting of Pyramid Head's symbol. Why did it keep appearing?

Curious, Ash looked at the hand where he'd been branded. Despite the burns all over his hand, the symbol was still there. Clear to see, a crimson reminder of that butcher.

He took another look around the room he was in. There was almost nothing there...just a desk and a telephone. His hopes soared as he thought of calling for help, but when he took a closer look, he saw there was no dial or buttons on the phone. He slumped back, utterly dejected again.

And then the telephone screamed.

Ash jumped up when he heard the noise. It rang like a alarm bell, screeching for attention. The noise reverberated through the halls.

Ash realized that someone could come to the phone to investigate. Without thinking, he grabbed the phone off its receiver, silencing the screech.

Anita was on the other end. _"Finally! I've been calling for an hour!"_

Ash blinked. An hour? Why hadn't anybody picked up? Nobody could've ignored that scream...then again, he hadn't heard it. But he was in a pit at the time...

Regardless, Ash didn't dare say a word as Anita continued to rave. _"Ah, doesn't matter. We've got a problem here. Two scoundrels just made off with our newest catch, and we need the dogs here. NOW."_

It was then Ash noticed something. Splattered on the desk was something red and dry. Blood. Looking down, he saw a trail of it leading away.

_"Did you hear me? I need those dogs! I can't let any of the children think that they can get away."_

But Ash wasn't listening. Absentmindedly setting the phone down on the table, he followed the streak of red on the floor. Whatever was bleeding had been dragged over to a storage locker on the other end of the room.

Anita kept talking to nobody. _"Hello? You know you're supposed to speak when spoken to. Now what is going on?"_

Curiosity getting the better of him, Ash unsteadily opened the door.

A robed body fell out, hitting the floor like a meatsac. Even with the robes covering his twisted body, the blood from numerous wounds was still very visible. The way it fell on the floor, Ash could see his face...an unmasked look of shock and pain, frozen forever on his face...

Ash almost gagged. It suddenly became clear what had happened to the cultists in the building...

_"What was that? What's going on? Hello?"_

This wasn't the work of the straightjacket monsters, or even that of the skull children. But why would the Missionary murder the people who worked for him? The ones who helped him?

And then it sunk in.

Ash slowly turned around, eyes wide with fear, to see Walter Sullivan right behind him. He still had that calm, vacant look on his face that sent shivers down Ash's spine. The ghost was picking up the phone and slowly hanging it up.

_"Hello? Hello-" CLICK._

Ash couldn't get himself to move. He saw the bloodstains on Walter's clothes and face. Were they fresh? Could ghosts even get bloody? Wouldn't the blood...pass through them or something? Why was he even thinking about that?

"Are...are they all..."

_Yes._

"Did you..."

_Yes._

"Why?!" Ash demanded. The fact that he was a few feet away from a murderer didn't scare him.

_To help you._

Ash froze. Help?! What...what was he...why would he need...a murderer's help...

"I-I don't need...your help."

Walter smirked. _Really?_

Rage replaced Ash's paralysis. Was he really so pathetic that he needed everybody dead in order to accomplish something? Was he really so...

He WAS being herded. Constantly. Ever since he came here, something or another was guiding him along...to what? Why? Was he...they...it just toying with him?! Even back in Kalville and Mashura, the only time he accomplished anything was under the instruction of Alessa or Pyramid Head, and even then he couldn't do anything when they made their move.

Was he so impotent and pathetic that the forces of Silent Hill HAD to give him a psycho helper to make all the bad people go away so he could stumble through the path they wanted him to follow? What was he?! Just a toy to them?! Were they...whatever they were...just trying to drive him insane?

"Get..." Ash stepped back, his burns stopping him from running. "Get away from me..." He didn't know if he was angry or scared, but he had to get away from Walter...

Walter simply smirked. _Hurry. You don't have much time._

"Wh-What do you mean now?" Ash was getting sick of the cryptic way Walter talked.

_It will all be cleansed with fire. Very soon._

Ash froze. He could smell gas. Walter was going to burn this place to the ground. Ash wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't for the fact that he was inside.

Ash backed into a door. Not wanting to spend another second with this ghostly murderer, he fumbled for the doorknob while still looking at Walter. Thinking that if he turned around, the ghost would come closer, Ash never took his eyes away.

Once he found the lock, Ash blasted himself through the doorway...

And was met with several snarling jaws.


	20. Chapter 19

The snapping jaws came closer and closer to Ash. Drool splattered over his face and shirt, the heat reigniting his burns. Guttural snarls that certainly weren't human erupted from the mouths.

Ash almost groaned, clamping his eyes shut. So, this was how it ended. Devoured by monsters. He couldn't say he was surprised. Ever since the skull child had shown up, he knew this was gonna happen. He couldn't go back into the room with that crazy ghost, and he couldn't escape these creatures...

Wait...Ash managed to open his eyes. The jaws weren't coming any closer. They seemed stuck...no, that wasn't the word. They were moving in every direction but forward. It took him a minute to figure out why.

The creatures were chained by the neck to the wall. Thick steel. There was enough distance between the dogs and Ash for him to creep around them, as long as he stayed close to the wall.

With utmost caution, Ash crept around the rabid dogs. That's what they were. Dogs. But there was something odd about them, something Ash couldn't put his finger on. Something that seperated them from the straightjacket monsters and the skull children he'd seen earlier. Suddenly, it hit him.

These weren't Silent Hill monsters. From a different angle, the roaring monsters were clearly Pokemon. One was an Absol, with a scarred face and neck. The other was a Arcanine, with an odd metal patch around its neck underneath the collar. Both of them had insane eyes, sharp teeth and coats marred with hideous scars. Spittle flew from their jaws as they roared furiously at the intruder.

Ash couldn't help but feel pity for them, despite knowing they'd kill him if he got careless. The Order had been brutal in their treatment of them. Why would they do this? He'd understand them killing the 'abominations', as much as it disgusted him, but why abuse them and leave them alive?

Ash finally found a door that wasn't the one he came through. Gripping the doorknob in twitching hands, he twisted it and jumped away from the insane snarling dogs.

He slammed the door behind him and took stock of his surroundings. It was dimly lit, so he had to squint to make anything out. Ash could hear furious barks and animal cries coming from everywhere. His eyes gradually adjusted to the dark, allowing him to see the room he'd stumbled into.

It reminded him of the back room of Butch and Cassidy's shop. There were cages large and small stacked on top of each other, some just big enough to hold a mouse and others large enough for Ash himself. Most of the cages were empty, and the few that were occupied had Pokemon that were just as rabid as the guard dogs. Fearow, Sneasel, Pinsir, Riolu, and more. They were roaring and hissing at the bars, snapping at Ash if he ever got too close. Spittle splattered on the boy's face and he wisely decided to back away.

Ash realized he was in the kennels, and these were the 'hounds' the cultists had mentioned earlier. The Missionary must use these guys to hunt escapees. Or maybe Marge uses them to convince the kids that Pokemon are evil. _Crazy old hag...how could she do something like this just to prove a point?_

Ash tiptoed cautiously through the room. Looking at the mad Pokemon in the cages, he felt sympathy but he didn't dare release them. He knew they were feral, and would kill him if they got out of their cages. All of them had this twisted look in their eyes, a bloodthirst that only torture could bring out.

Ash was so busy moving away from the cages he didn't look where he was walking. He finally tore his eyes away...only to see something worse in front of him.

It was another cultist...or at least parts of one. The robes had been torn apart and spread out, exposing tattered flesh and bone underneath. Chunks of meat were missing from what limbs were still there, and ribbons of skin decorated the broken skeleton like a macabre party had taken place.

The reason for the wrecked state of the cultist was obvious. Less than a foot from the corpse were three small red critters, tearing into a human skull with their tiny claws. A horrified eye stared at Ash from between the arms of the killers.

Ash half-gasped, half-wretched; a noise that caused the three little monsters to turn around. They weren't monsters...not Silent Hill creatures, anyway. No, behind the blood and rabid eyes they were clearly Teddiursa. The one that was closest to Ash growled and looked like it would pounce, but it turned around when the other two tried to pull the skull away. The three critters started to claw at each other, disintegrating into a violent squabble over the last scrap of meat on bone. Ash took the oppurtunity to creep around another stack of cages, where the rabid Teddiursa couldn't see him.

Ash shouldn't have been surprised, but the revelation was incredibly unsettling nonetheless. The thought that such small Pokemon were capable of something like this...it churned his stomach. Even in the wild, this didn't happen. Ash wasn't naive enough to think that wild Pokemon all at grass and berries, but to bring about such viciousness...even Team Rocket couldn't drive them to this...

Or could they? All the times he'd rescued Pokemon from the poachers, from people like Butch and Cassidy...was he just in time to stop this from happening? Or...

Ash sighed. He liked to think himself a hero. And he was. He'd saved a lot of innocent Pokemon, helped a lot of people, heck, he even saved the world once! But he didn't feel like a hero here. Every time Silent Hill was involved, he was never a hero. Either he was too late to save anything, or what ultimately saved the day was accomplished by someone else. He was either a pawn or, worse, some bystander just caught in the middle of the insanity.

How he hated that.

He couldn't save these Pokemon. They were beyond saving. Hell, when Walter accomplished his cleansing, it'd probably be doing them a favour.

As he crept past the cages, still unsure where he was going or what he was supposed to be doing, he almost missed a soft whimper that wasn't a bloodthirsty, insane growl.

He turned to look at where the soft sound had come from. In the back of one of the cages, huddled away, was the smallest Houndour Ash had ever seen. Normally they came up to Ash's knees, but this one looked tiny enough to hold in his hands. It had to be a baby.

Ash gulped. This poor thing hasn't been driven insane yet. From the way it was whimpering, it had only just been put in a cage. It had only just been born.

_Maybe..._

Not quite aware of what he was doing, Ash touched the cage door. The puppy glanced up.

_Maybe at least..._

The door opened, catching the pup's attention. It looked at it's saviour, but didn't move.

_At least I can save him..._

Ash took the dog in his hands and moved it out of the cage. Once if was outside, it jumped out of the boys hands, looking up at him quizzically.

"Go." Ash sighed, his voice cracked and weary.

After considering the boy for a second, the Houndour turned and ran, away from the cages, away from the feral Teddiursa, away into the shadows.


	21. Chapter 20

Brock woke up in complete darkness. When he tried to move his hands, something cold and metal tightened around his wrists. When he tried to call out, something muffled his mouth. Handcuffs and a gag. Anita wasn't taking any chances.

The boy struggled for a moment, but nothing came of it. The way he'd been handcuffed, he couldn't even maneuver his hands to remove his gag. _Dammit! Now what do I do…Are Ash and Dawn okay? Arceus, what is going on?_

Noise. He heard a door open and the sound of several small feet pattering into the room. Room? He couldn't tell…was that a light? Everything was so blurry and faded…there must've been a blindfold around his eyes. All he could do was listen.

Anita's voice. "Now stay here, and don't make a sound. I'll make sure the bad people don't find you. Everything will be just fine." She sounded almost…nervous. Good.

Brock grit his teeth on the gag. What was that sicko talking about? What could possibly…He felt other bodies brushing against him. Scared breathing. Anita was herding several children into the room he was locked in. After a few moments had passed, Anita let out a shushing noise and shut the door, leaving everybody in claustrophobic darkness.

Thankfully, one of them had the decency to get Brock's blindfold off. He looked up to see a brunette with green eyes in the darkness. The girl Dawn had talked to when they first arrived. She put her finger to her mouth before removing the gag around Brock's mouth.

"Shh." She whispered. "Whatever you do, don't talk too loud."

"What's going on?"

Mary gulped. "Someone's coming. Someone she doesn't like. Things are going wrong, and she's only letting the ones she trusts outside."

Brock looked around the tiny room. There were several other kids, and they all looked frightened and confused. But even in the dim light, he could tell that none of them were the ones he was really scared for. "But…wait, where's Dawn? And Ash? The…the other two kids I was with?"

"I don't know about Ash, but…" Mary swallowed nervously, her face a mixture of hope and dread. "I was talking with Dawn, but then she vanished…I think…I don't know."

"Vanished?" Brock asked. "Maybe…maybe she escaped! Maybe it's the police! We could call for help!"

"No." Mary shook her head. "Even if it is…we can't yell. Anita built this room so nobody will hear us in the hallway…" she then pointed to a small hole in the roof, rimmed like a pipe. "but her helpers will know we tried to call for help. They'll punish us, and we'll still be here."

Brock's spirits deflated. This was bad. He was helpless AGAIN. All he could do was hope beyond hope that somehow, someway, everything would turn out alright.

As he watched the Houndour pup vanish into the darkness, it occurred to him that the small puppy didn't really stand a chance to escape. Between the monsters, the cultists, the rabid Pokemon, and the Missionary, it was incredibly unlikely that the dog would make it out of the next room, much less the water tower.

The boy sighed to himself. Well, it was a nice sentiment, at least. But neither of them were going anywhere. There was no escape from this hell. No matter what he'd do, he was going to die here.

Drained of even the smallest hope, Ash fell to the floor. His face sunk into his hands, and he began to weep silently. All he could do was sit down and wait. Wait for…what, exactly? The Missionary? Walter? The gas lines to finally ignite? More monsters? The puppy?

He had been sitting there for several minutes before he felt something nudging his hand. Reluctantly, Ash looked up to see the tiny Houndour right in front of him, holding out a piece of paper. The boy shook his head and chuckled.

"What are you, still here? What's the point of…" Ash blinked. The paper…he recognized that writing and drawing style…but the words weren't the same…

His eyes wide, Ash tore the paper out of the dog's mouth. Another look confirmed it. It was another page of the fairy tale!

_The king and his people shed tears at the death of the kind priestess. God took pity upon them and, granting their wishes, healed the priestess. The priestess opened her eyes just as she had done every morning of her life._

She went once more to the monster's lair. "Fool! You wish to die again?"

"No... this time it's your turn."

The priestess had come to defeat the monster once and for all. As the priestess was very very kind, she felt sad about this task. But it had to be done.

"Swords and spears won't work. Arrows and bullets will just bounce off. You can't kill me," the monster laughed.

But the priestess used neither sword nor spear. She chanted but a single spell.

"TU FUI, EGO ERIS."

Do you know what happened then? The monster let out a huge cry and then died and vanished!

Thus the villagers were able to use their gates once more. Everyone lavished their gratitude upon the priestess, and they all lived happily ever after.

Ash stared at the paper in utter confusion. The heck? What was this story talking about? The Glutton was killed by magic…words? What the heck did these words even mean?

"Tu…fui…ego…eris?" Ash recited, scratching his head. "I don't…I don't get…"

**WRRRIIGHHHHA!**

The cry was short, sharp, and loud. It echoed through every hall of the water tower, causing the walls and floor to rumble. Ash felt a shiver go down his spine, but he wasn't sure if it was fear or…excitement…

_The monster let out a huge cry…and then…_

Suddenly regaining all of his energy, Ash took the puppy up in his arms and started running.


	22. Chapter 21

Anita straightened her dress out and redid her hair. A bright smile was put on her face, making her look every bit the kind governess. They would be here any moment, and they couldn't look at all suspicious. All of the window blinds had been opened, to show that there was nothing to hide.

She could hear Marge pacing nervously. Anita felt her sister could be a little more relaxed. They could handle this. This was…unexpected, but they could handle it. They had been blessed so far, and their god would always protect them. She or her agents would not allow their work to be compromised, not like this.

Marge shouldn't be so worried. God would protect them. She and her angels…Valtiel, at least. Xulchilbara was difficult to figure out. He was never around, and the red god seemed indifferent at best to the Order's plans ever since the third failure…

_Wait…the third failure…_ Anita felt a frown on her face. _That boy…he looked familiar…it couldn't be…_

She heard rapping at the door, interrupting her train of thought. They'd arrived. She could handle herself. It was time. _May God guide us and protect us_, she mused as she calmly walked towards the door.

Anita Royce opened the door to the waiting police officers. She could see Dawn there, scowling at her. Anita smiled broadly and invited them inside.

Everything was under control.

Ash had been knocked around and shuffled through so many different rooms he was completely lost. For all he knew, he was on the other end of the complex than where he'd started. If it hadn't been for the directory right outside the kennels, he never would've found out where the exit was.

He was surprised to learn it was so close, but in retrospect it made sense. If the Missionary used the dogs in the kennels to track down runaways, they would have to be released quickly. At any rate, the exit to the facility, the doorway that the Glutton had been guarding, was just down a long hall.

Holding the Houndour puppy in his arms, Ash ran down the hallways as quickly as he possibly could. The burns weren't bothering him anymore. Whether it was just the adrenaline or his newfound hope was unclear.

_Please…please…Arceus please…please…_ he chanted silently as the distance closed between him and freedom from this prison. The hope was insane, the chance was minimal. How could four nonsense words kill that monster when the Missionary's blades couldn't do anything? It didn't make any sense…

_What are the chances…how could it possibly…_

Ash slowed down and stopped as the door came into view.

The door. Not the Glutton. The Glutton was gone. There was nothing blocking the door. There was nothing in the way of their escape.

Ash's heart leapt in his chest. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he smiled. He was going to escape! He was going to be free! And it was all thanks to this dog! No good deed goes unrewarded after all. Ash hugged the Houndour puppy tightly in his joy before setting it down.

Grabbing the door's wheel in his hands, Ash turned with all his might to open the door. It wasn't locked…he wasn't sure if that was an oversight on the Order's part or the actions of Walter and he didn't care. He could feel the sunlight already.

The door clicked, and Ash threw himself against the door with all his might. Surprisingly, the door actually budged. The first rays of sunlight caressed his face…

And then the Missionary's switchblade imbedded itself in the door, preventing it from opening any further.

"You're not going anywhere, whoreson."

Jessie's brow furrowed in confusion and unease. Something was wrong.

She wasn't sure why she'd insisted that they stick around. Even after giving all the twerps' Pokemon back to Dawn as a sign of good faith, Team Rocket still had more than enough Pokemon to give to the boss. There was nothing stopping them from simply hightailing it out of the woods and reporting to Giovanni. But something had compelled them to stay behind and watch.

They had been watching the orphanage from a safe distance, looking through their specialized binoculars. From what they could tell, the police were interviewing Anita, Marge and several of the older children. They seemed to shake their heads a lot, and smile a little too much. Dawn was pacing the halls, looking for someone or something that she never found. Judging by her expression, things weren't going very well at all.

"What do you think is going on?" James asked.

"If I had t' guess, the ladies and the kids are denyin' everythin." Meowth answered. "That ain't good."

Jessie bit her lip. It made sense to her…that woman, Anita, must've rehearsed her act for if the police ever came to her doorstep. Coached the kids into saying what the police would want to hear. Brock and Ash must be locked up somewhere, along with this 'Mary' Dawn had mentioned.

"You'd think they'd run away from this place." James remarked.

"If I'd been in a place like that while I was in the foster system, I'd have bolted the first chance I got." Jessie noted. "It can't be _that_ difficult. It's two ladies in the middle of the woods. What could be keeping those kids here?"

"Maybe dey tink their friends'll get cooked if dey try to run." Meowth answered, glancing back at the Pokeballs they had taken from the crematorium. Jessie bit her lip as she thought about it. He had a point there…

"Uh oh."

Jessie's eyes whipped back to James. "What do you mean, uh oh?"

The officers were shaking Anita's hand, ignoring a wide-eyed Dawn. Marge was standing behind Dawn, smiling smugly` "I think the police are getting ready to leave. The twerpette's getting frantic. This is really, really bad!"

"We gathered that, James." Jessie swallowed. "Maybe they're just getting some backup or paperwork or something, and they'll come back."

"If dese crooks have any sense, dey'll bolt if that happens. Or worse…" Meowth's eyes went wide as he thought of the ramifications. Anyone who could casually incinerate trainer's innocent Pokemon was capable of anything! They were anything but best friends with the twerps, but they sure as heck didn't deserve whatever these crazy ladies were planning.

Jessie froze, looking back at the Pokeballs. Staring at them for a long time, a thought occurred to her that she never would've considered otherwise. She hesitated for a moment, took a very deep breath and sighed.

"I got an idea."


	23. Chapter 22

Ash screamed and tried to run, but the Missionary's hand grabbed him by the shoulder, holding him like a vicegrip. He honestly thought that the monster would dislocate his shoulder with it's grip alone. "NO MORE RUNNING AROUND!" he snarled, removing his blade from the doorway and positioning it to sever Ash's legs.

The Houndour pup suddenly leapt up and sank his teeth into the Missionary's arm. The butcher exclaimed in pain, surprised at how sharp and hot the tiny dog's teeth were. The momentary shock was enough to loosen his grip on Ash, and the boy forced himself free of the maniac.

Unfortunately, the Missionary was blocking the exit door so Ash couldn't bolt out the exit. All he could do was back away a few paces as he watched the Missionary rip the dog off his arm, drawing blood. The monster tossed the Houndour aside like a rag before turning back to Ash. Faced with the bulky murderer coming towards him, all Ash could do was turn around and run into the room right behind him, praying he could somehow outmaneuver the Missionary in there.

To his dismay, the room he had run into was a small, cramped kitchen. Huge rusted ovens dominated the walls, tubs of boiling oil simmering baskets of deformed meat. A Miltank corpse hung in the corner, freshly skinned and dripping onto the floor. Cooking implements, many stained with blood, dangled from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a large wooden table, a solid block with a torn rag covering it like a shroud.

So many things in the room, and yet there was nowhere to hide.

Not that there was any time to hide. The Missionary barreled through the doorway right behind Ash, still holding his bitten arm.

This gave Ash a moment's pause. Pyramid Head took countless Pokemon attacks without even flinching. He saw him shrug off a flamethrower and a thunderbolt like they were nothing. Why would the Missionary register pain from a puppy's bite?

Ash could only back away a few paces before the Missionary's glove grabbed him by the shirt. Looking up at the burlap sack concealing this monster's face and unsure whether he'd live long enough for anything to matter, he asked the question that had been plaguing his mind ever since this nightmare started.

"WHY?!" he demanded. "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!"

The Missionary quivered with rage. "Don't…don't pretend you don't know! You took what was MINE by right!" The Missionary's other hand grabbed Ash's arm and pulled up the hand with the burnt symbol. Pyramid Head's brand. "I was supposed to be blessed by Xulchilbara, not YOU!"

Ash blinked. "Xulchilbara? Pyramid Head? That freak? This is about him?!" Ash looked to his right side. Right beside him was one of the tubs of boiling oil. Immersed in one of them was some sort of cage/pan that held several blobs of Rattata meat under the oil's surface. There was a large handle dangling out of the tub…if the Missionary wasn't gripping his arm, he might be able to reach it…

The Missionary tightened his grip on Ash's arm, getting even more angry. "FREAK?! You little…do you even…he blessed you, and YOU DON'T KNOW?!" Without warning, he started laughing. The most horrible sound Ash had ever heard.

He suddenly let go of Ash's hand, still laughing that monstrous laughter. "What a joke…you pathetic bastard. You don't see it yet…" His hand went up to his mask. "Maybe you will…NOW!"

The mask was torn off.

Ash was honestly underwhelmed. The face behind the Missionary's mask was completely human. Almost laughably so. Wild brown eyes glared out from underneath a tangled mess of rough brown hair. Uneven teeth grit together behind a scraggly beard. There was something familiar about his face, but it was buried underneath all the ugly, scraggy hair that matted his features. He looked more like an unkempt hobo than a monstrous killer.

"Do you see now?!" the unmasked Missionary kept screaming. "Do you see, you whoreson?!"

"Actually…no. I don't." Ash growled.

Before the Missionary could react, Ash grabbed the handle of the pan closest to him. With his strongest thrust, he yanked the pan upwards and threw the contents into the Missionary's exposed face. Boiling oil splashed onto his face as a Rattata corpse slammed right into his eye. The shock and pain of the attack forced the Missionary to release Ash. The Missionary grabbed the burning side of his face, trying desperately to contain the pain that seared his face.

Ash didn't look back as he bolted out the door. The Houndour pup was sitting near the exit, as if it had been waiting for him. In a single movement, Ash picked the puppy up in his arms and slammed into the exit with his side.

The door creaked open, and Ash felt the glorious sunlight on his skin. Without hesitation, he ran out of the water prison. The light blinded him for a second, but he didn't stop. As his eyes recovered, he could see everything. He could see the lake, the woods, the road. He just kept running, the Houndour in his arms and adrenaline pushing him forward. A smile was on his face. He was out! He was free!

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**

That made him turn around.

Flames were erupting from every open window in the building. Red and orange streaks of light dancing like stars on the dead stone of the water prison. Ash could hear the rumbling as the insides of the monstrous building were destroyed.

_Why is it always fire?_ Ash wondered to himself.

The exit door burst open, and Ash realized he wasn't done running. The Missionary stumbled out, clutching his burnt face and snarling like a wounded dog. His remaining good eye spotted the escaping Ash, and he let out one more savage roar.

Ash turned and ran for the woods, praying for a miracle.

Loyal followers of this story, I am SO sorry for the painful wait. I recently got an story idea that I decided to burn through before I continued this (Ben 10 fans in the audience, please look up and review 'The 10 in Ben') and this on top of exams coming up has really, REALLY cut into my. I promise I will get the next chapter up sometime next week, and I will finish this story by mid-July.


	24. Chapter 23

Dawn's wide eyes darted around, desperately trying to find something, anything she could use. But there was nothing. Anita looked back at her, that fake smile not hiding her monstrous eyes. Looking at her made maggots crawl under Dawn's skin. But there was nothing she could do about it.

She thought the police would help. But nothing was going the way it should have! Why wouldn't any of the children speak up against those women? No matter what she told them, they would only say how wonderful Anita and Marge were, how nice it was here, how she's so silly for thinking otherwise. Anita and Marge kept laughing about how she was making things up and trying to ruin the orphanage's reputation out of spite, and from the way the police looked at her, they believed those two witches.

Her hopes were raised briefly when one of the officers brought out a list of missing children, trainers who had disappeared in this area. But even with their pictures, none of the officers found any of the children matched. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Anita had smuggled away any kids that could've been recognized. So who were the kids that she was displaying? Her own? Dawn couldn't imagine Anita or Marge as any sort of mother.

Dawn tried to find that secret panel, but all the hallways looked the same and she couldn't get away from the police. There was no doubt in her mind that if she separated herself from the police officers, one of Anita's helpers would knock her out and put her back in that room. And there was no guarantee that Team Rocket would save her again.

Dread settled in her stomach as the lead officer shook Anita's hand. "Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. Sorry about the intrusion."

"Oh, it's no problem." Anita shrugged it off like the snake she was. "It's always a pleasure to assist the police. And I do hope you find those poor children soon."

Dawn was incredulous. "You're just LEAVING?!" she yelled.

"We haven't found anything." The officer replied rather harshly. "We'll do a follow up in a few days, but right now, your tip was a bust."

"But you don't-"

"Miss Harris, please." The officer turned around and started walking for the door. Dawn glanced behind her and saw Marge with several helpers. She quickly ran right up to the door. If she couldn't convince the officers to stay, at least she wouldn't be recaptured!

Anita was waiting by the door, having gotten there first. "Allow me, officers." With a dangerous look at Dawn and a smile at the police, she opened the door…

And a horde of small Pokemon came rushing in. The police nearly fell over as the wave of Bidoof, Rattata, Pidgey, Pichu and Sandshrew.

"Fudge." Anita gulped, her smile vanishing.

Marge screamed, scrabbling away from the tiny creatures as if they were demons. They way some of them were growling at her, they might as well have been. "What the- WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN HERE?! GET THEM OUT!_THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD! KILL THEM!_" she cried before she could stop herself.

The head officer glanced back at her. "What was that, miss?"

Some of the helpers tried herding the Pokemon out or just hitting them, but several of them just stared at the Pokemon as if for the first time. Even if all of them had coordinated to evict the creatures, there was no way they could've contained the swarm. Several Butterfree and Beedrill buzzed in as well, hindering the process even further. Poochyena, Growlithe and some small dog Pokemon started running through the halls, barking up a storm.

Dawn just stared, stunned at what was going on. She hadn't been expecting this.

Having jumped up on a nearby chair, Marge turned to her cohort. "Anita…!"

"D-don't worry…" Anita tried to reassure her, glancing out the window. "God will protect us, everything…"

Her eyes widened in horror. Rising over the treetops in the distance was a huge pillar of smoke from a fire. There was only once place that smoke could be coming from.

"Fudge." She groaned aloud before walking away.

"Fudge?" Marge demanded. "Anita? Anita, what are you talking about? What's going on?" Marge glanced aside. Dawn and the police officers were following the creatures down one of the hallways…right towards…Marge looked back up to find Anita was gone. With a combination of fear and anger, Marge started running towards the officers.

Brock heard the yapping first. In the darkness of the prison room, he nudged whoever was closest to him. "Hey…do you hear that?"

Mary sighed. "It's probably nothing. A trick to get us yelling." The resignation in her voice indicated that she'd been through something like this before. But as the noises grew louder, even she perked up.

Several other voices started speaking. "Miss Marge wouldn't let them in, not even to trick us…"

"She hates them too much for that…"

"I can hear them!"

"Hey…that's…"

"Someone's at the door!

"They're clawing…"

"I know that sound! It's Charly! CHARLY! I'M IN HERE, BOY! _CHARLY!_"

Several Poochyena and Growlithe were sniffing, mewling and scrabbling at a wall. A few of Marge's helpers tried to grab them and pull them away, but they were bitten for their trouble. It wasn't long before Dawn and the police came up to them.

"What are they barking at?" One of the officers remarked.

Marge suddenly appeared. "There…there must be a dead rat behind the wall…get them away from there!" she stammered desperately.

Dawn gave her a scowl before kneeling next to the dogs. Putting her hands on the wall, she could feel a faint pounding. This was definitely it. Her fingers inspected every inch of the surface, looking for something, anything…

"HEY!" Marge wasn't trying to hide the panic in her voice anymore. "Get her away from there!" she yelled at her helpers. Said helpers tried, but they were impeded by the numerous Pokemon as well as the police, who were becoming more and more suspicious.

_Click_

The door opened, and a bruised, emaciated little boy tumbled out into the hallway, much to the shock of all present. He was followed by several other kids, all falling into the hallway onto their bruises. The first boy got up and grabbed a nearby Growlithe, hugging him with all his might.

The rest of the children rubbed the brightness out of their eyes, staring at the policemen as if they were angels. The Pokemon kept running around, sniffing the children for ones they recognized. Several of the helpers took in the scene and started running. Dawn searched the children for Brock and the little girl she'd spoken to, but she didn't see either of them at first.

The head officer glanced up from the children. "Miss Marge, what the hell is…"

But Marge was gone.

_Relax, she said! We'll be protected, she said!_ Marge snarled inwardly as she ran through the halls. _Ever since those kids showed up, everything has gone to hell. We need to get out of here and regroup with the others…_

Marge stopped in her tracks. She could hear a car running in the garage. On hearing the garage door open, she picked up her pace and burst through the door into the single-car garage.

A black Station Wagon was backing out onto the street, and Marge could tell Anita was driving.

Marge yelled out, trying to catch up to the car. "ANITA! WAIT! _ANITA_!"

Anita clearly saw her, but didn't stop the car. Anita was retreating to the water house, to pick up the Missionary and what remaining forces they had. Leaving Marge high and dry to deal with the police.

There were other cars in the orphanage – Marge knew that they would have to abandon this location eventually- but they were on the other end of the compound, and the only way to those cars was blocked by police and Pokemon. And that infernal girl who ruined everything…

Still, Marge was nothing if not prepared. Walking up to one of the shelves, she unlocked the cabinet and took out a loaded shotgun. There was no way in hell those monsters would stop her now.

Let it never be said I don't keep promises. It may be said this chapter is rushed or sloppy (don't be afraid to tell me how I can fix it) but I promised an update, and here it is!


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